The Glory of Custom Moves
by ThePizzaLovingTurtle
Summary: Was it ever strictly defined in the rule-books that the Smashers could not use other movesets? Maybe, but think about it, Lucina could use lances, Duck Hunt could alternate between their snipers, maybe the Zelda characters could use songs to fight. A look at the Smash Bros. roster if they brought a bit more to the table than their standard attacks. Back from the dead.
1. Let's Go Bowling!

**Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS: The Glory of Custom Moves**

" **Hey Toon Link, Let's Go Bowling!"**

Villager had nearly tripped. Though the majority of his injuries were simply scuffs on his blue sneakers and scratches on his favorite no. 1 shirt, to say that he was having the time of his life dodging and weaving past hurdles of bombs, boomerangs, and arrows would be a complete and utter lie. He and his opponent, known as Toon Link, faced off on a dark platform, a blue and red glare beaming off the sides respectively.

His opponent stared back at him. Big cartoonish cat-like eyes blinked back at him, glaring with a hidden ferocity and determination. Villager's equally as cartoonish eyes glared back, though the smile on his face might have said otherwise about his next intentions. With a quick move, Villager dashed towards his rival, Toon Link, at a great speed, jogging briskly towards him with intent to kill. He ended up feigning an actual trip over the flat ground, launching a potted projectile towards his opponent as he landed safely on the ground, the potted plant launched from seemingly nowhere flying towards his opponent.

However, Toon Link envisioned this, simply blocking the pot with his brown shield, the plant breaking, dirt and an unfortunate sprout showering off of his shield. The small, green capped hero pushed on, his silver blade glowing. He unleashed his blade in a spin attack, catching Villager in the whirlwind of swipes.

Villager's eyes widened, not a word to be said.

"HYAAAH!" Toon Link yelled, spinning around.

At the end of his attack, Villager was launched a short distance away from him, landing on the cool floor of the stage. He gulped, glancing over the edge behind him, a void in space lurking underneath the stage. Getting to his feet quickly, he frowned, staring across at Toon Link. No injuries were on his body, but Villager felt tense, like he could go flying at any moment. Toon Link glared from across the stage's plane, dashing towards him, sword at his side.

Villager thought to himself. The relative size of Toon Link was short, like him. Jumping up and slinging a rock would take too long, and he might be launched into the stratosphere by an attack. The Lloid rocket could be a bit ineffective at this range as well. Risking an upfront attack could also spell disaster. All that remained in the projectile department was his bowling ball.

His bowling ball.

Villager did not clearly understand why, but he could not bring himself to clean out his inventory and remove his bowling ball. Like a good luck charm, he carried it everywhere. Did not slow him down a bit, either. However, the only times he did use them was to drop them on an enemy's foot for a giggle or prevent them from ascending back onto the ledge of a stage. He never actually used it like a bowling ball, that is to say, roll it. So, could he…?

Villager frowned. It was now or never. Villager retrieved his bowling ball, and held it in front of him. Instinctively, Toon Link slowed down, stopping just outside of where Villager would drop the ball, and reached for his sword, attempting to swipe at Villager. However, to his surprise, Villager grasped the side of the ball using the round stubs he calls a hand, raised it behind him, then launched it forward onto the ground, the projectile glinting as it rolled towards Toon Link. The little hero blinked, his mouth gaping open. Before he could react, the ball quite literally bowled him over, the green capped blonde feeling himself being launched off the edge. Frantically, he jumped in mid-air, reaching for a device from his back, a grappling hook of sorts. The hook launched out of the device, impaling itself into the stage, safely connecting Toon Link to the stage. Or so he thought.

The bowling ball, still rolling, made its way to the edge of the stage. It tipped over, the black underside menacingly looming over Toon Link, whose already huge cat-like eyes expanded in fright. The ball rolled over the edge, threatening to fall, Toon Link swerved to the right on the hook, just barely avoiding the ball as it scraped by and fell. Toon Link breathed in a sigh of relief, then looked up again, his eyes once more expanding in fear. Villager came flying down, three turnips at the ready. Using the stock market substitute vegetables, Villager slammed into Toon Link, the hero with the green cap launched into the void underneath, where he vanished with an explosion of light. His final words being:

"GAK!" He grunted.

GAME!

* * *

The winner is…

Villager, a plain smile on his face, took a brown beetle from his pockets, raising it to the sky.

Villager.

Toon Link blinked, standing at the side, applauding for his opponent. The two stared at each other, both having been transported to some new realm, columns and ruins surrounding them, then grinned, each sharing a plain laugh at the events. The two began making their way out, vanishing in a blink of light.

* * *

Villager blinked again. He found himself in a grassy town, simple cottages and trees ripe with fruit surrounding him. Walking through the grass and flowers amidst the town, he came across a short brown statue of sorts with a rope fence wrapped around it, the statue waving its stubby arms wildly, its empty eyes greeting Villager warmly, its mouth forever gaped in an ovular shape.

"Good morning Mr. Mayor!" Lloid waved with his cylindrical stubs.

Villager grinned, reaching into his endless pockets, retrieving a bag of coins with a cross symbol of sorts emblemized on it. He set it by the statue with a hopeful stare.

The statue stared at the bag, its arms still waving. "So sorry Mr. Mayor, but these coins do not substitute for bells!"

Villager frowned.

"Maybe next time, yeah?" Lloid waved goodbye.

With a sigh, Villager picked up the bag of coins and trudged off. He highly doubted they would sell for much, but after being slashed a few times, he was convinced that even picking the fruit off of trees one by one would be a much simpler and less painful task.

* * *

AN: That concludes this chapter. Some moves in the Smash series strike me as creative, and others like the bowling ball seem like they could be used in more ways than one., you know, a bowling ball used like… An actual bowling ball. So, this is a bit of a collection of scenarios if characters used attacks like they do in their games, or in a few ways that might make more sense. Although considering the absence of logic in the Super Smash Brothers games, it might not go as smoothly. Who knows but I? But hey, this might not get updated regularly, so you can shoo off to your regular stories you sillies. Just in case!

Thanks for reading, this is ThePizzaLovingTurtle, off to water the flowers in my town.


	2. Heavyset Cat-Eyes Toon Link

**Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS: The Glory of Custom Moves**

" **If you can't hit the nail, bring a larger hammer!"**

Toon Link felt crushed from his recent defeat. Not just in the physical sense, but… Well, the bowling ball had been crushing physically on his cranium, but aside that, he was functioning perfectly fine on the cranial function side of things. However, he was racking his brain, pondering and pondering time and time again on the match he had lost.

Toon Link stared out from the mountain tops of Outset Island into the open sea that surrounded him. Every so often whenever a match or tournament was on his mind, he could retreat from his seafaring adventures and venture into the arenas and battlefields of the leagues of Smash, full of other characters from realms beyond his own. He had even met a older, much more detailed version of himself at one point, which was bewildering to say the least. Of course, he had his own adventures, find the fragmented pieces of the Triforce among the waves of the Great Sea and strengthen the Master Sword, but he found himself attracted to the battles of Smash. They were pleasant enough, they certainly, as well as both literally and ironically, never hurt to participate in, though a few grunts of pain from battle damage were of instinct.

Toon Link thought long and hard about Villager's impromptu tactic as he looked out to sea, the waves thin white lines on the sea. Perhaps if Villager could pull a surprise like that, he could as well?

As an adventurer, Toon Link carries many tools to assist him in his adventure, or adventures depending on whether or not counting the many reincarnations of the little green-clad elf man.

Toon Link cocked an eyebrow, glancing up at the sky.

I'm just saying, it's not like people haven't made that comparison before.

Toon Link frowned, taking up a seat on a flat rock, gesturing towards the sky, to that extent, the voice to continue.

Well, if you insist.

Many iterations of Link have pockets that could practically be considered as deep as the oceans itself. From boomerangs, to bows and arrows, and a strong sword kept at their side at all times, they were well equipped to handle any large threat. The higher ups in charge of the Smash tournament did a decent job delegating which items they were to use in their matches. However, they did have plenty of other abilities and items at their disposal. Was there a specific rule on what you could bring in, no.

So, Toon Link got to thinking. Quickly, he searched through his inventory, skimming through the bunches of items he had. He had pears he could use to attract seagulls and command. But he recalled a certain Pokémon Trainer from years past that had commanded beasts. Perhaps seagull control was too powerful anyways. He searched again. He had a shield capable of deflecting light, but he felt that his shield capable of blocking humongous laser blasts worked just fine. Then he gripped something. Something heavy.

Toon Link pulled out of his belt, hoisting up something that gleamed in the sunlight. A hammer, the mallet's head nearly larger than Toon Link's own body, jutted out into the sky, the smoky gray surface casting a dangerous shadow onto the land. Toon Link smiled. The hammer was nice, but perhaps he could do even better. Setting the hammer down with a thud, which happened to sound out through the entire island, he reached into his pockets with both hands. He grunted, pulling out a pair of boots, made of steel. Struggling to take them out, he placed them by his side, where they joined the hammer with a similar sounding thud.

The Skull Hammer and the Iron Boots. Part of Toon Link's arsenal. A hammer that could be used to smack or smash enemies, and a pair of boots that weighed Toon Link down, slowing him down but keeping him from staggering, most of the time. This could be his winning set of items.

Toon Link, ready and willing, took the extremely heavy, normally crushing weight objects, and slowly made his way off the mountain, grunting with extreme effort as he journeyed with the sun drooping in the distance.

* * *

Toon Link entered a clean white room, seats lining the walls. A handful of other people sat nearby, waiting patiently. Some had swords holstered at their sides, others were practicing physical combat routines. All were awaiting the next battle patiently. Toon Link, spotting an open seat, started towards the corner where it was placed. That's when a blip reverberated throughout the room. A door across the room opened, and a giant, white-gloved hand hovered out with a clipboard. No I'm serious.

"Eh, let's see… Toon Link?" The hand bellowed in a deep voice.

Toon Link grinned. This was his time to shine. He began to sprint towards the hand, then realized that he could not. His feet would not budge. Grunting with an apparent effort, he began shuffling very slowly towards the door, the Iron Boots slowing him down tremendously. After a few more grunts of effort later, the hand checking a watch on its… Finger, staring at Toon Link. Finally, one of the other patient people sitting down decided to give him a hand or two. What appeared to be a small spaceman sitting across from Toon Link whistled, the sound directed towards himself, somehow. Suddenly, a handful of purple organisms stumbled out slowly, advancing on Toon Link, then lifted him up. They carried him over to the hand, which seemed to snap out of its doldrums. It checked the clipboard it carried quickly, then seemed to nod.

"Right this way." It announced, floating off into the doors.

Toon Link blinked. Turning to the spaceman, the miniature green-clad boy waved to him with a smile, the spaceman waving back as the plant-like purple creatures carried him away, humming, the doors shutting behind them.

* * *

Toon Link reappeared on a great bridge suspended over a large chasm, his boots weighing him to the ground still. A portion of the bridge was cut off, leaving it in a flat state, with no other places to go to, essentially a bridge with no destinations. The sun was suspended over a castle in the distance, giving everything a golden-orange glow. The plant-creatures had left him to his match, which Toon Link mostly looked forward to. Though, he started having doubts on the effectiveness of his attire.

Across from him on the great bridge, there was a man who looked strikingly similar to him, only taller. Toon Link frowned. It was him. Just… Not toony. Regular Link- Or just Link, stood tall over Toon Link, a longer sword and more defined features signaling his differences. He brandished his sword, which gleamed in the fading light.

Toon Link did the same, but only a little less effectively. The cartoonish Link frowned.

All of a sudden, the familiar voice of the hand spoke up, echoing throughout the battle stage. "Three!"

He was counting down. The two Links began readying their weapons.

"Two! One!" He counted down once again.

Both of them glared, Link with a glare that could pierce with the same intensity of his sword strikes. Toon Link resembled a cat with his cartoonishly huge eyes. At that description, Toon Link stared at the sky, frowning.

I'm just telling it like it is.

"Go!" The announcer yelled.

The two took off sprinting. That was the case at first, but again, only Link made any substantial progress. As if he were bolted down, he grunted increasingly with his sluggish footsteps. Link slowed down from a run to a brisk jog, then to a standstill. Link, as if debating how to respond to this, reached over to his back, grasping something in his own inventory.

Link pulled out a bow, aiming towards Toon Link with a steady eye, an arrow notched and ready to fire. Toon Link's eyes grew wide, well, wider than normal. Link released the string that carried the arrow, the bolt firing towards his smaller counterpart swiftly. It stabbed him in the face. Strangely enough, it disappeared on hit, but left a smarting feeling on his face, causing him to stumble back. Or at least, he would have, just barely being pushed back, the boots holding him in place. Which happened to be another double-edged sword.

Toon Link was peppered repeatedly with arrows, bombs, and boomerangs in succession, being moved back inch by inch, centimeter by centimeter, slowly but surely getting sent closer to the edge of the stage, simultaneously attempting to keep moving forward. The forces of the wall of projectiles proved too much for Toon Link, sending the smaller, green hero off the edge of the stage. Reaching back, he managed to grasp a tool. Aiming some sort of hook, he aimed for the edge of the stage, the hook firing out of the blue tool, embedding itself into the end of the bridge. Unfortunately, the boots still on his feet still weighed him down somewhat. Toon Link's Hookshot tool managed to pull him up, though slower than normal. Toon Link frowned. It was just like his match with Villager at this point, only slower.

A flash of white appeared over Toon Link. Link had aimed his sword in a downwards plunge, threatening to launch Toon Link down into the abyss below. Toon Link blinked, his eyes growing wide again. If he were to try and remove the hook, he would plunge down into the chasm. If he were to continue try moving up, he would hastily run himself into his adversary's sword. But if he could recover in the nick of time somehow, close enough to the ledge…

Toon Link had decided. As soon as Link seemed inevitably close to him, Toon Link retracted the hook, took his sword, and spun. Like a cyclone, he rose, taking Link by surprise. The spinning movement of his sword had raised him into the air, just enough to reach the ledge, and also discombobulated Link, sending him off over the ledge, slamming him into the stage. As he stopped spinning, Toon Link reached out for the ledge, grabbing it, holding it for dear life. With increased effort, he managed to pull himself up, sighing in relief.

Only to get stabbed in the face by another arrow.

Stumbling back, Toon Link wiped his face, frowning. He displayed his shield using his right hand, which managed to block a few more projectiles Link hurdled. Bombs and a boomerang encased in a miniature tornado of sorts bounced off of his shield, but those pesky arrows found their way over his shield, pelting his face. Toon Link groaned. An idea formed in his mind quickly enough.

Slowly but surely, Toon Link pushed on. Each time he saw the glint of an arrow or the arm of Link reaching for a boomerang or a bomb, he would shield himself, then move forward. Eventually, Link saw through his strategy, and simply charged at him. This was when Toon Link saw his chance. With a few swipes of his sword, he managed to damage Link, his stationary position giving him a solid ground that he could use against Link, who was pushed back with each one of Toon Link's attacks. It would later cross Toon Link's mind that he probably could have used projectiles too, but for now, his melee weapons would have to do. Speaking of which…

As Link fumbled for his own sword, having been surprised by his smaller version's onslaught, Toon Link struck with a force to be reckoned which. Hence the Skull Hammer, which pounded Link into the ground. A crater was made in the stage, which Link managed to get stuck in, struggling to get out. Toon Link grinned gleefully. Holding the Skull Hammer, in one sweeping movement, he smashed the head of the hammer into Link, launching him off. He burst out of the crater, bricks following Link as he yelped.

"Naaaaaah!" He yelped, an explosion going off in the distance as Link yelped.

Toon Link smiled, lowering his hammer with a thud.

* * *

Next, the smaller, more colorful version of Link reappeared in the spotlight, surrounded by destroyed columns, just like Villager had before him.

"The winner is…" The hand's voice boomed.

A pig ran by Toon Link's feet. Blinking, Toon Link attempted to go after it. The pig simply ran a few circles around Toon Link, easily beating him in terms of speed, sending Toon Link reeling and dizzy.

"Toon Link!"

With that, the losing Link applauded, marveling at his younger counterpart's ingenuity. But, in the dazed mind of Toon Link, he was thanking his lucky stars that he managed to even move forward.

* * *

AN: And there's a Toon Link chapter for you all.

Thanks for reading, this is ThePizzaLovingTurtle, remember to always feed you seagulls psychic control-capable pears. See you.


	3. No More Skipping Stones

**Super Smash Bros. For Wii U and 3DS: The Glory of Custom Moves**

 **No More Skipping Stones**

The two young, inventive Smash Brothers contestants, Toon Link and Villager, sat patiently in a set of office chairs facing a large, mahogany desk. Across from that desk, Master Hand as he was known, the white glove that had ushered off Toon Link earlier, hovered above an office chair behind the desk, which was labeled with his own name. Villager stared with a responsibility in his eyes, as if he was used to formalities such as this, while Toon Link's cat eyes darted to and fro nervously around the white room, occasionally glancing out of the windows behind Master Hand.

"I understand you two have been innovating with your move sets." The floating hand bellowed.

The two small contenders glanced at each other. Turning back to Master Hand across from them, they nodded simultaneously.

Master Hand seemed to acknowledge this. "Now, there's nothing wrong with that. After all, custom moves do happen to be a new feature this time around. Just try to keep it in moderation, last thing we need is people bringing in weapons capable of slaying deities."

Toon Link's cat eyes gravitated towards his sword almost instinctively. Master Hand shook his...nonexistent head with a chuckle.

"Just keep it fair, alright?" Master Hand told the two.

The two young, or at least small Smash members nodded at Master Hand, who dismissed them with a wave of his… Hands are confusing. The two hopped off of the chairs and walked out from his office into a lavish hallway, the walls decorated with various photographs and the floor decked out with a lavish red carpet. The pair of them began walking off with relieved consciousnesses as the door behind them shut closed.

On their short trip, each of them would occasionally take a quick look at photographs, which would lengthen into stares. Pictures of cheerful veterans of the Smash tournaments and battles were decorated on the wall. Toon Link saw himself, well his older, more detailed self cross blades with a fellow swordsman's long, thin blade, engrossed in a one-to-one melee. Villager swore he could have spotted a familiar guitar-tuning dog sitting down on a stump while a party of other fighters brawled. The last of the photos on their walk was a certain spaceman, accompanied by what appeared to be colorful carrots. Upon spying that photo, the two came across a large, wooden door, red curtains decorating the sides. A glowing sign labeled "Exit" was suspended just above it.

Toon Link and Villager waved their silent goodbyes to each other, and opened the door. The two split, journeying off out of the hallway, back to their separate worlds and lives.

* * *

Olimar on the other hand was interested. After assisting the heavier than normal Toon Link with the ever strong prowess of the Purple Pikmin, he decided to keep an eye on the small, green swordsman, and spectated his match. He was interested, Toon Link's new hammer was certainly the talk of the town so to speak. Of course, not that Olimar was interested in the hammer itself, he hardly doubted even a battalion of Pikmin could swing it with ease. But his constant invitations to tournaments that even he could not turn down (mostly because his boss ordered him on account of their less than spectacular finances) had him pummeled by some of the more powerful opponents.

But for right now, he would have to push his thoughts aside for one issue that required his immediate attention.

"Louie, you've got to be kidding me."

Olimar, and a handful of Pikmin following behind him, stared out at a pit of creatures, all pushing towards a wall. And to that extent, Olimar, his co-worker, Louie, and all of the Pikmin currently with him. Louie wore a spaceman suit similar to Olimar, only it was blue. The Pikmin with them had a variety of shapes and sizes, not to mention color, but now was not a good time to add exposition.

One of the creatures, a pig-like creature with a red snout, billowed flames out of its thin maw, prompting them to start running to another side of the wall. Scorched dirt marked its aim, the strange pig breathing in heavily, presumably to unleash another round of fire. Olimar, Louie, and the Pikmin dodged again.

Right now it appeared that the company was stuck in between a rock and a hard place. Louie had wished to return to the planet, PNF-404, that the two had visited on several occasions to find more delicacies the Hocotatian palate would enjoy, and through a series of unfortunate events… Well, one event involving Louie irritating a few of the native species, they ended up being chased. Olimar under normal circumstances could have easily had taken care of the issues at hand. Unfortunately, in his rush to prepare for his next Smash match, he had only picked three Red Pikmin from the ground. Louie himself had a few more, but in his panic to get away…

A few Pikmin could be spotted running around wildly in the background away from the threats.

Now, all the two space-faring employees had with them were their gloved hands and three reds, two blues, and two yellows. Four enemies laid out in front of them, two of the fire-spewing pigs, a bug which seemed to have two antennae it used for hovering, with two arm-like appendages at the ready, and some sort of gelatinous creature with a puffball sticking out off its head. They all advanced on the group of smaller organisms.

With a grimace, Olimar could make out the struggling form of small creatures desperately attempting to escape the floating jellyfish-like animal in front of him. He could barely make out their shapes, but he had an idea in mind. Grabbing Pikmin after Pikmin, he tossed the carrot-resembling creatures at the pink, gelatinous predator, the Pikmin latching on a successful hit, smacking the thing with their plant bulbs and frail arms. Despite the mildly ineffective damage done by themselves, their combined might toppled the organism, and effectively defeated it as it hit the dirt, letting out a whisp of air before falling flat.

The Pikmin returned to Olimar quickly, narrowly avoiding blasts of fire, but a pair of retreating Yellow Pikmin were promptly snatched up by the bug, and slammed into the dirt. However, Olimar's plan was already put into action. Out of the corpse of the previously airborne enemy, small creatures resembling rocks with leaves sprouting out of their heads stumbled out, forming a group total of three that added to the already small mass of nine. Olimar grinned.

These odd creatures were a new species of Pikmin, aptly named Rock Pikmin for their hard exteriors and resemblance to the abiotic object. Though honestly, if they lacked eyes or leaves, they could pass as any ordinary rock.

But that arduous, obvious explanation had to wait. Quickly, Olimar took hold of the tougher creatures, taking aim at one of the fire-billowing pigs, and tossed one of them. Pretty much spot on to how an actual rock would function, the blow dazed the pig. The next shot, using another Rock Pikmin, practically ensured victory, knocking out the pig. In the chaos of the fight, the red cousins of the tiny troopers attacked the other pig, defeating that one as well with a series of beatings laid down by their small red hands. Which finally left the bug.

Big, red eyes stared down at the collection of Pikmin. The two other miniature soldiers that had been "defeated" actually poked out of the ground, yellow stalks with leaves signaling their location. Lacking common sense, the bug swooped down and forward, arms ready. It had the wind knocked out of it by a Rock Pikmin, ensuring its defeat.

Olimar could not believe his luck, and neither could Louie. The group of Pikmin was mostly unharmed, though a few had charred abdomens. Louie on the other hand was ecstatic; the defeated foes would do nicely in a quiche or a salad. Quickly, the captain whose stomach was just as, if not more intimidating than the previously full-of-life attackers themselves called the Pikmin to action, the colorful cadets carrying the crushed enemies off away from the wall, humming as if it were just another day for them.

Olimar stared at the three Pikmin he had with him left. All of them were shaped like rocks, with leaves sprouting out of their heads. For a bunch of near inanimate objects, they were quite handy. Olimar had discovered the new species of Pikmin with the assistance of a young man he had met, with quite the leadership skills. He and the same young man battled in the same tournament, battle, match… phenomenon, known as Super Smash Bros., yet none of them had considered using Rock Pikmin for some odd reason.

Speaking of which, Olimar scowled. The encounter with the beasts had taken up quite a chunk of his time. If he was going to make it to the tournament, he would have to start moving. He had no other Pikmin with him. He had never used Rock Pikmin in a match before. But he dislike being tardy. Especially when it came to time limits. Olimar glanced back. Louie and the other Pikmin were gleefully stacking deceased enemies on top of a bonfire, roasting them quite well, much to the delight of both them and their own stomachs.

" _...Louie can handle them by himself."_ Olimar had decided with a nod.

Glancing up at the sky, he determined it would be some time before the sun set and the nocturnal dwellers of the planet would come out, waiting and ravenous. He could fly in to his match, Pikmin ready, and fly back. With that plan in mind, Olimar nodded, walking off while the rest of them had a buffet in the background.

* * *

One lengthy flight later, Olimar, in one of the cockpits of his company's spaceship, made his way towards a floating stage in the middle of a strange realm, suspended high in the sky, three platforms in a flat, equilateral triangle shape, the stage and platform glowing blue and yellow with patches of grass surrounding the main, bulkier platform was laid out in front of him. As the ship came to land, Olimar briefly wondered if the Rock Pikmin would work. He was rather nervous, fighting for glory or money or just in general was never his forte. Sure, he knew how to punch, he was never one to continue throwing them.

Olimar landed on the stage, the ship departing behind him as it shooed him out of itself. Olimar reached at the ground, inexplicably pulling out the three Rock Pikmin he had found earlier, which he recalled leaving behind back on planet PNF-404. But as a veteran of Smash, he had already known much about the bizarre, nonsensical habits the places battles took place had.

Across the stage, he noticed a swirling vortex form. All of a sudden, a boy, blackened with soot, rushed out, shaking himself off. Once the dust cleared, his image, a boy in a red cap with black hair, a blue and yellow striped shirt wearing a backpack and red shoes smiled, two black ovals for eyes and an innocent smile.

As soon as the two entered, they heard the ever familiar announcer voice. "Three! Two! One!"

Olimar and the Rock Pikmin readied themselves, as did the boy across from them.

"Go!"

Olimar tossed one, which promptly smacked the boy. Despite the fact that the combatants all returned alive and well after a match, Olimar cringed at the prospect at hurting a child.

"Ow!" The boy cried out, reeling back.

However, in a flash, the boy was back up. He stared back at Olimar and his rock-resembling companions for a moment. All of a sudden, he smiled.

"Okay!" He nodded.

Olimar blinked. The ways opponents acted sometimes was silly to say the least. He hurled another one of the Pikmin at the boy. This time, he was ready however. Reaching behind him, he returned the favor, smacking the Pikmin right back at Olimar with a wooden baseball bat, which he failed to dodge, the Pikmin bonking his head through his space helmet. Olimar shook his head. It was getting serious now.

The resulting battle transformed into a dangerous version of a normal baseball match. Whenever the child across from him noticed Olimar winding up the pitch for a throw, he would try to hit the Pikmin back. Sometimes he would, and Olimar would either dodge or get punted back. The same happened with him, as his swings were either late or early, and would earn him a smarting bruise, or at least he would have if it had hurt much.

Eventually, Olimar decided to give it his all. Taking all three of his Pikmin companions, he lifted them, and tossed one at a time with speed and precision, the three spiraling through the air in a straight line. His opponent flinched. Taking up a batter's stance regardless, Ness attempted to bat back the line. He managed to hit one, but was peppered by the others. Olimar's eyes lit up.

Then promptly widened in a painful matter when the reflected Pikmin slammed him offstage.

"SUDDEN DEATH!"

Like the name implies, the two suddenly reappeared back on stage. Despite their game of "baseball" earlier, the boy was no longer playing games, and began sprinting towards Olimar, his arms flat behind his back. Olimar, still readjusting to the sudden shift, throw a Rock Pikmin instinctively. His opponent tried to skid to a halt, but ultimately was launched away off into who knows where, with a pillar explosion following after.

"Ouch!" He groaned.

"The winner is…"

Olimar found himself in the victory ruins, in the spotlight. Reaching down at the ground, he pulled up three Pikmin high up into the air, where they came down quickly. As they were all Rock Pikmin, they slammed into Olimar, causing the space captain to grunt somewhat.

"Olimar!"

* * *

AN: Here you are, Olimar chapter.

Thanks Interested and XShinkuKikinX for reviewing! I'll try to be less repetitive Interested, thanks. XShinkuKikinX, thanks for favoriting and indeed, seagull pear feeding is important.

Thanks for reading, this is ThePizzaLovingTurtle, see you.


	4. Ness's Ride

**Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS: The Glory of Custom Moves**

 **Ness's Ride and the PSI Issue**

Ness has a good life. At least he himself believes that. Sure, it was a odd and at times frighteningly dangerous trip through the land, Eagleland, FoggyLand, and Chommo, to be precise, but with his psychic powers and the help of his friends, he had saved the world from Giygas.

He also was nominated as one of the first Smash Brothers… Or Smashers… One of the first Smash characters, to be precise. Oddly, he is, or was depending on how one would look at it, one of the youngest cast members, being a child. Then again, he did smack a man with a baseball bat once, his sister runs a delivery/storage service… It was odd. A lot of others in the circuit could share his odd sentiments, especially a certain blonde boy with a similar shirt.

But while his journey and the people he met were far from normal, he was mostly bewildered. In the Smash matches, he had access to moves that he himself could not use by default, almost like they were lent to him by his friends, namely the gentle blonde girl he knew as Paula and the ever vigilant kid with the single strand of hair named Poo. Paula's PK Fire and PK Freeze abilities, along with Poo's PK Starstorm were given to him for the sake of filling in a moveset, also including their PK Thunder attacks. They were originally called PSI, but Ness assumed that one of his friends had something to do with the name change somehow. Ness was all fine and good with that, he was grateful, but he felt now that his moves were wearing thin.

PK Fire was a thunderbolt that he shot from his hands that would ignite on a hit. People figured out easily that they could dodge that.

PK Freeze was a custom move that he and a friend of his named Lucas used, but that could be easily dodged.

PK Thunder casted a rolling ball of thunder which Ness could use to launch himself. ...It was somewhat disorientating.

Finally, PK Starstorm was one of the greatest of his borrowed moves, but that could only be used in tandem with a Smash Ball, which was rarely ever deployed in "hardcore" or "serious, by the book" matches.

Ness could not figure out what he could do. Sitting at a table alone in a burger joint, cars rolling outside underneath the great blue sky, the boy stared out at the grass. Rumor has sprung up between those in the Smash matches that a few of the participants were "innovating" with their movesets. Ness could very well believe it; after all, he had witnessed it firsthand in his bout against the space captain Olimar. At first, he thought that Olimar had run out of his Pikmin helpers and just decided to take the easy way and throw rocks. It was not until after the match that he discovered they were actually part of the little plant people species, which only bewildered him more.

Ness took a sip out of his can of fruit juice, staring down at the bag of fries and the burger wrapped up neatly, sitting on his tray. Four different Smash rosters had been called, and Ness had taken part in each and every one of them, being part of the original twelve fighters in the tournament. It was a journey to behold, though Ness and a few others of his fellow veteran secretly longed for another adventure in their own worlds and lives, they would have to deal with just being fighters in matches.

Ness took one fry and ate it in a single bite, He took a few more, chewing, savoring the crisp yet filling taste of the fries. All that being said, or in this case, thought, Ness would have to figure out what he would like to use with his moveset. Closing his eyes for a moment, he could briefly recall a select few of his moves.

PSI Rockin. That was his trademark attack move, which could hurt both someone's body and anyone else's eyes. Of course, Ness' favorite thing could be swapped with Rockin, but Ness wanted to keep it simple and original. Sort of.

Ness stopped eating the fries and saved a few milliliters of juice for finishing off the burger. A patty of meat, stuffed between a pair of buns, followed with other condiments and ingredients of no description as not to ruin anyone's appetite made up the scrumptious meal. Ness reached for it, grinning.

He could use PSI Teleport too, but he usually only used that to enter matches. He doubted that the stages he fought on provided enough space for him to run. There was Shield, PSI Shield, Paralysis, Hypnosis…

Ness opened his mouth to take a bite, but found that the wrapper previously carrying the burger was empty. He blinked, setting the crumpled up, stained paper down on his tray, along with the other discarded food items. He felt extremely satisfied physically with the fast food meal which he figured he might need to exercise off later, but racked his brain on how he would go about incorporating new moves. Ness left his seat, carrying the food tray, approached a cylindrical trash can, and for a split-second debated whether or not it would be worth digging through. Ultimately deciding not to look as if he wanted seconds, Ness simply dumped the contents of the tray down into the trash can, placed the tray on top, and started for the door, pushing against the smooth, clear glass.

The sunlight welcomed Ness as he left the building, stretching outside the burger joint. Onett was a wonderful town, though small and the police force was less than sympathetic at times, one could live happily in this town, maybe even get a nice paying job. But Ness hardly cared about any of that, saving the world had its perks on its own, and his dad was kind enough to send him money every so often. The boy made for the road-

And pulled out a bicycle from his backpack.

*Ness rode his bicycle.

He kept a brisk pace, spinning the pedals at a decent speed, minding the pedestrians of Onett as he did so. A few snakes and wild dogs shifted in the background, scurrying under bushes and trees as Ness passed by, though a few of the friendly of the bunch would bark and hiss as he passed by. Despite not wishing to cause a road accident, Ness could swear that he saw a car bump into someone and stomp completely on a dime, both the driver and the person walking by merrily going about their way.

During the "drive," he found that he was still stumped for a way that he could mix it up with his attacks. He had better figure it out soon, too. A letter sticking out the side of his backpack was emblemized with a red, waxy stamp of a ball with a cross-shape in the middle. The neat calligraphy inside read that Ness would have to get ready in a few hours, as well as telling him not to worry about travelling using some portal spells or travelling up a mountain or what not, just to stay ready. Ness continued thinking on it, passing by a set of buildings.

The bike skidded to a halt, stopping by a drug store. Frowning, Ness kicked at the pedals, the bike not moving forward. The boy sighed, perhaps he would need to take it back to the bike shop a long walk back to a town called Twoson for maintenance later. Frowning, he stuffed the bike into his backpack because inventories in video games make sense, and began walking off. The honking of a car followed him.

Wait. Cars usually do not do that in his town.

Ness put his arms up, guarding his face, a car driving past. Despite the fact that the vehicle speeding across the road was on the street adjacent to the drug store, it was as if the blow teleported over to Ness solely for the purpose of hitting him. Despite the fact that it should have shattered a few bones, the boy in the red cap practically shrugged it off, though he was pushed back by the initial drive by. Ness frowned, mentally facepalming as he realized that the reason he did not need to go anywhere was because he was already in the stage where the next match would take place.

Onett's stage, three buildings standing side by side and a tree extended over the building that was placed right to the end of the stage's boundaries. The drug store had two awnings that could serve as platforms, and the slanted roofs of the adjacent buildings could work just as well.

The psychic boy glanced around, attempting to find his opponent.

"Gre."

Ness glanced around.

"Nin."

Frowning, he wondered if he had just wandered into the stage by mistake.

"Ja!"

And suddenly, a blue frog appears. In a gust of wind, a shadow previously gone unnoticed took shape, resembling a blue frog of sorts with a scar as aforementioned. A pink scarf lookalike wrapped around it. But if one looked closely, they could see that it was in fact not just a scarf, but the frog's tongue.

The boy recognized the other fighter. A Pokémon by the name of "Greninja", belonging to a world filled with creatures of all shapes and sizes with abilities that could rival Ness'. But really, who of you out there have not heard the name?

Ness stared at the odd frog warrior. It stared back at him with a curious glare. Both were tense, waiting for that ever familiar booming voice.

"Three! Two! One!" The announcer declared.

There it was.

"Go!" The announcer shouted, prompting the two to dash.

The boy, one hand on his wooden baseball bat, the other brewing with a mystical energy, dashed towards Greninja. The Pokémon responded by jetting up into the awnings of the drug store. A blast of water propelled the frog upwards and pushed Ness back towards a building. He caught the side of the building, frowning. Already, the frog was using one of its moves; an attack called Hydro Pump. Ness brushed off the blow, jumping into the air to catch up with the ninja amphibian.

If he was going to test his alternate abilities, it would have to be now. A burst of psychic energy put a spring into his midair step, sending him equal level with Greninja. Ness deposited his bat into his backpack, then raised his hands out, a green circle of light flashing out of the palms of his hands. Greninja's pupils shrank, being caught off guard by the younger boy, sent to the side. Landing on one of the lofty trees, Greninja recovered on the flat leaves, staring at Ness carefully. Despite Ness' desire to practice using his other moves, he was… Unsure of how the effects would pan out differently.

The Smash matches had a tendency to alter fighters' moves, after all.

But there would be no time to lose. The frog was coming back with a vengeance, hopping from the tree, poising its arm in the air to swing. Ness frowned, then tried focusing, holding one index finger to his head and the other one in front of him, waving it around. As water materialized in the shape of a sickle, Greninja came down, swiping his blade.

The amphibian attempted to move after its blow. Ness had been struck, landing on the other building, also attempting to move. But try as it might, Greninja shuffled in the air, for the most part stuck.

The boy adjusted his cap and got up to his feet, making sure to not fall off the building. His PSI Paralysis move had worked. Now all he had to do was get back up there and finish the amphibian assassin off. Firmly set on the ground, he changed that quickly, bouncing up into the air towards Greninja. This could be another perfect opportunity to use another move!

Ness moved his hands in a swirling motion, creating a dizzying effect on the still paralyzed Pokémon. If it had been trying to make any escape, it was far from it, like a fly trapped in a web, it remained floating in the sky, though hypnosis and paralysis under any normal circumstances probably would not have left it suspended midair. Nevertheless, Ness would need to capitalize on this, and that he would do. Standing on the top awning, he readied his bat, and swung.

His bat collided with a green dinosaur plush. Blinking, he stumbled back, the bat swing having been a rather hefty move. All of a sudden, the awnings collapsed, and from underneath, Greninja came flying toward him, kicking him into the sky.

"Oh!" Ness groaned, sent skywards.

With all his willpower, Ness concentrated on not flying, and felt more like a rock, attempting to sink. Greninja spotted the flailing Ness, leaping up into the sky to deliver another straight kick attack, hopping over the boy in the red cap, launching down towards the ground, smacking him into the grass in front of the buildings. Ness grit his teeth, getting up to his feet, when he heard the sound of a horn approaching. Greninja landed by Ness, and, while the Pokémon intended to strike swiftly, it had too noticed the incoming car. The amphibian hopped onto the building to the right of the stage, staring as it waited for the car to give Ness a wallop.

This was the chance Ness had waited for. Rolling to the side, the incoming van rolled by harmlessly. Frowning under the thick tongue-scarf it had, Greninja leaped back into action. Desperate to finish Ness off, a vortex formed in the frog's hand. What appeared to be a throwing star formed from the droplets of water materialized in its hands, both hands slung at its side, ready to toss. Ness frowned. He hardly trusted using his bat to deflect the shuriken at the speed the blue battler was approaching the ground. But maybe he could use a different item.

Ness could feel himself growing weary. He hardly knew how much damage he would deal, but it was all or nothing at this point. Ness reached into his pack, and pulled out his secret weapon.

*Ness rode his bicycle. Using the bicycle, Ness squished a frog on "accident".

Greninja laid in a crater in the ground, dazed and surprised. Now was a time if ever. Dropping off of his bike, Ness ran over to Greninja, pulling out a yellow yo-yo. He positioned himself behind Greninja, aiming the yo-yo over towards the shortest building; the building towards the right of the stage looked promising. Spinning the yo-yo, he lowered it towards the ground, where it caught onto Greninja, the rapid motion somehow enough to launch him out of the ground, and off into the distance.

"Gre!" It coughed as it exploded in the distance.

Ness smiled. Now it was his turn to visit the pantheon of the champions that was the… Desolate winning screen. All of a sudden, his smile disappeared, and the boy found himself in front of the Onett drugstore. The "correct" Onett drugstore, with only one building next to it: the burger joint he had eaten at earlier.

* * *

YOU WIN!

Ness earned 658 exp.

Ness grew to level 199X!

Oh baby! Most of the stats the author is too lazy to look up or replay Earthbound to remember went up by 10!

The enemy left behind a box! Inside the box, there was a Poké Ball! Ness takes it.

* * *

After that engrossing message flashing across his eyes, Ness blinked, shaking his head. He glanced around Onett, finding nothing but green grass and medium buildings as far as the eye could see. For a brief moment, Ness had wondered if he was daydreaming.

"Mail call!"

A package fell at the feet of Ness, stamped the same as the letter he had received earlier. Curious, Ness stooped down to pick it up. Opening up the flaps, he had found:

Another letter with the same stamp. Ignoring the redundancy of the whole situation, he decided to skim through the letter, oval eyes narrowing to read. It went on about how they had run out of funds to properly finish matches and commented on Ness' "new" abilities. It was relatively short and well-written like the other letter. But it did end on a rather interesting note:

 _By the way, we would like to know if you could host the fighter, Greninja, for a little while as we undergo maintenance. If you wouldn't-_

"Ninj."

Ness glanced towards his right. Behind him, standing on three webbed feet with one stuck in the air, always alert, was Greninja, patiently waiting. Ness blinked, returning the stare that the warrior animal was giving him. He had recalled something about his mother and serving his favorite food tonight. The fact that he had won had also put him in a good mood. Finally, the Poké Ball in his backpack practically confirmed it. So, Ness put on a light smile, and nodded to the amphibian assassin, who nodded back, and walked behind Ness.

*Greninja joined the party.

The two Smash fighters began walking off through the trees and hills, leaving for home as the sun set behind on the town of Onett.

* * *

A while later, Greninja, Ness, and a blonde woman in pink sat around a table, a set of meals sat on plates. Greninja poked at the food on display, not taking a single bite out of the meal.

The woman blinked politely. "What's that Greninja? You don't like steak? T-O-O-B-A-D."

The frog stared at her. Taking the plate, Greninja pushed the food down, where it touched its tongue, and in a flash, the meaty meal was gone. The amphibian houseguest took a napkin from the table and pat its tongue down, blinking.

"Hmm." The woman hummed, "How long did you say we need to keep him around, Ness?"

Across from her, Ness shrugged.

The woman smirked. "Well, at least he's less messy than King. No fighting in the house, alright?"

As if he had been waiting the entire day, Ness grinned and said, "Okay," enthusiastically.

Ness' mother rolled her eyes. "Of course you wouldn't say no."

* * *

AN: This chapter stinks!

Thanks for reading, this is ThePizzaLovingTurtle, off to play Earthbound and memorize those stats like Guts! See you.


	5. Mecha-Monstrosity Kirby

**In Honor of the U.S. Release of Kirby Planet Robobot**

 **Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS: The Glory of Custom Moves**

 **Mecha-Mechanical Monstrosity, Kirby**

As much as Kirby hated to admit it, or simply the lack thereof the ability to admit considering his general lack of properly structured languages, (which in turn could be easily ignored if we look at Pokémon and Pikmin talking to each other or the fact Kirby can speak when copying other fighters) he felt that he was beat. He and his opponent were on a platform suspended in the sky. Three thinner ones stretched over the primary ground piece, and a tree with facial features…

Indeed, it was that time of day.

...Watched from the background. It stared at Kirby, the pink puffball star warrior laying on the ground tiredly, his red oval-like feet sprawled out with him. He took a deep breath, and began to stand up, albeit slowly and shakily. His arch-nemesis of sorts stood across from him, grinning. The weapon of his choice glinted in the sunlight, the light reflecting off of the mallet.

With a grunt, the blue penguin wearing a crown across from him ran towards Kirby and spun his hammer across the ground. The resulting blow knocked Kirby off of the stage and off into the sky, where he disappeared with a yell and a glint.

"GAME!"

* * *

After King Dedede had won the match, Kirby had applauded rather enthusiastically despite his defeat, and had found himself back on a grassy hill, looking out on the green plains of Pop Star, his home. It was a jolly old place, with plenty of friendly looking creatures of all the sort. However, at this point in time:

It was considerably less pleasant taking into account the robots rampaging everywhere.

Kirby could make out the shape of a few orange creatures with peach faces skedaddling away from multiple mechanical enemies. A few of them equipped with spears turned on a dime on the grass and hurled the pointy weapons. They simply bounced off of their metallic sheens. Despite the fact that nearly every being on this planet, alien or not, was the shape of a soccer ball, there was certainly some form of war going on. Funnily enough, Kirby, the one in the middle of it all, experienced very little conflict thus far.

It was almost as if his adventure had yet to begin but the author needed a reason to write a Kirby chapter.

The pink puffball hero of Pop Star glanced up at the sky, frowning.

Right, then.

Of course, if Kirby wanted to prevent the entire planet from exploding, he would have to act quickly. Getting up to his small red feet, he started departing from the hills, sliding down the grass. Eventually descending to the bottom, he rolled off of the hills, and started for an adversary. Looking about the lands, it was clear he would have quite a lot on his plate. Mechanical beasts of all shapes and sizes dominated the land. It would certainly be a tough endeavor.

That being said, Kirby retreated soon enough. As the battle waged on between nature and machine, Kirby had a secret weapon in mind.

A few orange creatures of Kirby's stature known as Waddle Dees hurled a few of their spears towards a sizable mechanical foe, with hardly a scratch to its green paint as the spears bounced off of its ginormous rectangular arms. As it lifted them up, ready to strike the shivering, spooked foot soldiers, it flinched. Yellow mechanical eyes turning towards its arm, it noticed Kirby on its arm.

That was not all. Kirby himself, now donning a pilot's cap and goggles on his round forehead. The main difference was hardly in his apparel, but rather in his new ride. His stubs that served as hands on the controls, Kirby piloted a mech armor of sorts shaped and colored just like him. Two sturdy metallic arms with star insignias emblazoned on them grappled the arm, feeling around for a weak point as the large enemy fumbled about, attempting to shake the Star Warrior off. Finally, the pink puffball found what he was looking for. A large screw bolt embedded in the arm and the shoulder of the robot stuck out rather plainly. Now was his chance!

Taking hold of the screw, Kirby's mech began unscrewing the bolt, already unraveling the "seams" of the robot. With a pop, the arm came flying off, the robot making a groaning noise in response. Still in possession of his adversary's arm, Kirby took the arm, and, as if mimicking a certain boy in a red cap, swung with all of his might. The resulting attack knocked the robot across the land, one appendage missing, the robot vanishing in the sky with a blink.

After the initial battle had finished, Kirby had hopped out of his mech suit, sighing in relief. There were plenty of mechanical issues with Pop Star at the moment. So far, the Waddle Dees still of flesh and blood, assuming that Waddle Dees actually bled, tackled the robotic invasion with hearts (again, assuming they indeed had them) of gold. Of course, with Kirby being yet another one of the original twelve Smashers from the very first set of matches, it was somewhat difficult to continue adventuring with the constant allure of tournaments on the rise. While a warrior in charge of saving a planet time and time again would seem like a task of utmost importance, it would just so happen that Kirby had somewhat of a short attention span it would seem. Despite this, he was punctual, usually saving the world and "usually" making it to matches on time.

Speaking of which, Kirby felt like one last match before going into a war bent on machinery and madness seemed like a good way to start. Adjusting his cap, he set off into the distant world of Smash, the Waddle Dees watching him go, hopeful yet dreading whatever would be next to come.

* * *

As soon as Kirby arrived to the waiting room for his match, he realized two things. One, that Dedede was in the waiting room as well, polishing his hammer? Two-

"Po- Oh!" Kirby exclaimed, eyes growing wide.

He forgot his mech. It was certainly a glaring issue. Everyone else seemed to be getting into experimenting with their movesets, too. This was worrying. Looking around the room frantically, he frowned, appearing as if he had nothing he could do aside try his hardest on his own. Then, he found it. Sitting across the room was a white and grey robot, two arms perpetually extended outwards like a horseshoe, a flat pad in place of legs. Its head had two black, shiny optical lenses for eyes, with one red blinking light on its head. This was R.O.B., the Robotic Operating Buddy for short.

Kirby stared at R.O.B. for a while, then glanced at Dedede. Kirby smiled.

* * *

Back on the same stage from their match before, Kirby and Dedede glared across from each other. It seemed Dedede had a new trick up his sleeve; the penguin now wearing a metallic mask. His hammer had seemed to gain an upgrade as well; the mallet was now covered in steel.

Across from him, Kirby had on his trusty pilot cap and goggles, sitting atop his mighty mech. But due to his obvious time constraints, he sat on the head of a grey robot. R.O.B. blinked, glancing up at Kirby. Kirby grinned at the robot, nodding. Almost sighing electronically, R.O.B. shook its head.

"Three! Two! One!" The announcer declared, the contestants readying themselves until the final call, "Go!"

The two- Unless counting R.O.B., in which case three charged towards each other. For a brief second, Kirby wondered how he was going to control R.O.B.

The realization struck them quickly enough. The weight of their lack of strategy had them all plummet. Or in more literal terms: The pink puffball and the robot crashed into the penguin king and with the combined weight and shock of the incident had them all fall off the stage and explode.

"...Game?"

* * *

AN: Just wanted to do a quick, silly little chapter in preparation for Kirby Robobot's United States release. I'm hyped.

Thanks Piston24 for reviewing! I'll be sure to keep that in mind if I ever write another Earthbound story.

Thanks for reading, this is ThePizzaLovingTurtle, remember to always get your money-back guarantees!


	6. Durability Woes

**Super Smash Bros. For Wii U and 3DS: The Glory of Custom Moves**

 **Durability**

"...Interesting. This 'Trojan Horse' seems effective on paper, but it certainly seems a tad obvious."

Flipping through the pages of a musty tome within the shade of a tent, a white-haired man gleaned strategies and ideas from the book, the opening in the tent serving as his reading light. Garbed in a black and violet robe, he scanned each page dutifully, thoroughly looking over the instructions and processes needed in order to successfully pull each of the endeavors detailed in the book. Eventually after his skimming, he shut the tome, pushing it onto a flat desk in front of him with a sigh.

"Though I doubt they'll allow me to enter in a large wooden horse on the battlefield." Robin frowned, putting a hand on his chin.

He pushed forward further so that the strategy tome would not take up much desk space. Unfortunately for him, the mountain of other textbooks in front of him would prove difficult to maximize cleanliness.

"Robin?"

Robin perked up, glancing towards the entrance of the tent. Standing in the sunlight outside was a woman garbed in a cape, with dark blue hair running down her head. Strangely, an opulent mask was attached to her face, covering her eyes.

"...Time for the next match?" Robin asked, to which the woman confirmed as she nodded.

She nodded, removing her mask from her face, placing it in her equally clean and cut blue garb that she wore, somewhat flashy yet conservative for battle purposes, obvious from the sheathed sword at her side. The woman in question revealed, yet again, a blue motif to her appearance, with the azure eyes blinking over at Robin.

She nodded. "I'm afraid so."

Robin stood up and stretched, sighing. "Alright, give me a moment."

With another respectful nod, she filed out of the tent back into the sunlight outside. The tactical mind waltzed about his tent, using his fingers to search through the amount of supplies. Running his hand over a silver sheen, he retrieved a sword, jagged like a bolt of lightning. For safe measures, he took a few other weapons of his choice; a variety of foreboding tomes with insignias of various descriptions laid in a pile on the ground. Stuffing them one by one into his robe, he turned to the entrance of the tent and walked out into the sunlight.

* * *

"So, I've been meaning to ask Lucina," Robin started, the azure swordswoman from before accompanying him as they traversed a modern landscape, "How did that escapade with those characters from another world go?"

"The one with the gold chains?" Lucina spoke up, to which Robin affirmed with a nod. "Ah, it went swimmingly uncle. Father and I had crossed paths with many warriors."

Robin arched an eyebrow in interest. "Like who?"

Across from them, they could notice some sort of martial artist garbed in a white gi robe covering him, a black belt wrapped around his waist and a red bandana wrapped around his black hair. He glanced back, raising a fist to Lucina almost in a cheery fashion, though his rugged face could have given the wrong impression. Lucina suddenly unsheathed her sword and raised it, the blade, a hollow sphere indentation just above the hilt glinting as the sun passed through. The warrior smiled, and continued to walk away. Lucina then deposited the sword back in its resting place and glanced at her uncle.

"Ryu, for one." She smiled.

Robin nodded, the two of them continuing on. As they walked, Robin could have sworn he saw a certain pink creature riding a giant machine. All of them were advancing on a rather tall building with a symbol on the front; a circle with a cross shape emblazoned on the front beckoned to the fighters.

Approaching the building, Robin looked at Lucina one last time. "I'll see you sometime later."

The swordswoman smiled. "Alright. Goodbye Robin."

The front glass doors were hardly transparent, serving as more as a decorative aesthetic than anything else. As Robin approached the door and opened, he was greeted with a flash of light.

* * *

Par the course with the rest of the cast of Smashers, the man garbed in a violet coat reappeared in a waiting room, with one set of doors in front of him, chairs bordering the door. Fighters boredly fidgeted with their weapons as they awaited the next fight as patiently as they possibly could. Robin cleared his throat and took up a seat across the door, and for lack of better reading material, began inspecting his tomes. One that could conjure lighting, as dictated by the front, fizzled with energy as his hand drifted over the pages. Then immediately halted. For a moment, Robin blinked, waving his hands around the book.

" _...Oh no."_ Robin frowned, inspecting the pages.

Almost as if it were a fruit left out in the sun, the pages wilted and deteriorated into nothing but dust, falling out of the book and disappearing in the canvas of the room. The tactician frowned as he saw the book reduced to nothing but the covers. Shutting the practically empty book and stowing it away with a scowl, he turned towards some of the other seats to see what everyone else was packing just in case he would fight them later on.

"Poyo!" Kirby greeted him from the sidelines.

Robin's mouth gaped open. Now that he got a better look at Kirby, the mech he was riding was absolutely terrifying in its aura it exuded. Its appearance was hardly that menacing to be fair, but its ginormous fists were nothing to scoff at. They were just as, if not larger, than Robin's own white head. He gulped, taking a sweep with his eyes across the room.

A few other fighters he had taken strides to memorize also seemed to have upgrades. Olimar seemed to have a rock sitting by a pair his Pikmin companions, who rolled the rock around, a leaf mysteriously sprouting off the top. He could see Ness tuning up a bike with a blue frog wearing a scarf standing upright on a chair, his apparel somehow blowing in the wind. Toon Link was stuck to the floor.

...Yeah, the little green swordsman was still figuring it out.

And Villager continually rolled his bowling ball around the room, sometimes smacking into Toon Link's shield, hardly moving him at all due to his footwear predicament. He scowled, occasionally making shouts and growls at the mayor of a sleepy animal town. Robin swallowed uneasily, staring at the others.

" _This will go fantastically."_ Robin grit his teeth.

The doors swung open across from him, accompanied by a booming voice. "Robin!"

" _Right."_ Swallowing, Robin made towards the door, a few of the young combatants waving him off, to which he reciprocated nervously with a wave of his own.

* * *

As Robin reappeared, he noticed Link standing across from him, the tall one to be slightly more specific, the both of them standing above the sea on a tower of sorts, skulls decorated on the roof, the tower itself embedded in the deep blue. Ships and creatures of many descriptions floated underneath them. The tactician stared at Link curiously, ready to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of his opponent.

He was surprised. Link looked somewhat different. His normal attire of a green tunic and hat was swapped, he no longer wore a hat, his burgundy hair sticking out now, with a sky blue shirt.

Despite his different appearance, Robin was hardly deterred from the swordsman, raising his own jagged sword as his opponent raised his own.

"Three! Two! One!" That ever familiar voice counted down, until finally the release call arrived, "Go!'

The two immediately put their swords away and retrieved projectile weapons like the zoning jerks that they are.

"Really?" Robin frowned.

Again, just saying.

Ignoring that, the two equipped their weapons of choice; Robin with his books, Link with his bow. Robin opened his tome, only to be reminded as to his unease, with the pages missing entirely from the deadly novel. He sighed, closing the book, and winded the pitch, tossing the cover. With expert marksmanship and careful fingers, Link launched an arrow from his bow, the two projectiles colliding-

And disappearing completely. Which in this case was perfectly normal in the Smash matches.

Still, the two persevered, tossing empty covers and firing arrows for who knows how long, until they reached in their inventories for one last attack. They felt nothing but fabric. Frowning, the two simultaneously removed their hands from the item spaces and returned with melee weapons, both wielding fierce swords. They advanced, ready to strike, jogging across the wooden deck of the platform, annnnnnnd their swords broke on impact as well.

Now the two were extremely confused. They glanced at each other. With uncertainty in their eyes, they retrieved their final weapons. A bronze sword, Robin held in his hands. Meanwhile, Link fumbled about in his pockets, finding a… wooden club. The pair of swordsmen glanced back at each other once more, grimacing. As if expecting it, they simply bumped the weapons together, the materials literally deconstructing upon impact.

"Hmm." Robin hummed, staring back at Link, who blinked silently.

This was a conundrum. Robin hardly fought with his hands, and Link's arsenal was also exhausted. With nothing else left to do, the two seemed to have a silent agreement. They slammed into each other with a tackle, grunting. Of course, having lost the foresight that was kept in check only by having their weapons not break on impact, they neglected to notice that they were stepping on shards of steel and wood, slipping about.

"Oh no." Robin gasped as he felt his balance waver.

The two slipped overboard off the platform. This time however, instead of a glorious explosion, the two simply grunted as they fell into the drink below.

Swimming to the surface, Robin gasped for air, sighing. "Work was full…"

* * *

Meanwhile, at a gloved hand's office space.

"What do you mean there's been a mix-up of Links? ...E3? Wha- Well alright, I'm sure having him in for a while wouldn't hurt." Master Hand spoke into what appeared to be a telephone, grappling it with his fingers, "Ah, right, I'll remember to tell Robin that we had to borrow his weapons for his female counterpart. Thank you."

The phone was placed back on its rightful pedestal, and while Master Hand had successfully negotiated with a staff member from a rather familiar company, he still felt as if he had missed something somewhere.

* * *

AN: Legend of Zelda Breath of Wild looks okay. Though Link having weapons that break is a bit worrying. I'm sure Robin knows the exact same feeling.

Thanks ProdigyGaming and XShinkuKikinX for reviewing!

I'm certainly glad I got a bit of a chuckle out of you, Prodigy, glad to have made a laugh.

I somewhat agree, ShinkuKikin, my wallet and interest are wavering ever so slightly. But seeing as there's no new Smash coming anytime soon, I suppose I should buckle down and enjoy what I got, I guess! I suppose I can have Kirby and Toon Link battle it out later, but I'll have to either A) Get Toon Link out of his metal shoes or B) Get Kirby out of his metal mech to make it fair.

Thanks for reading, this is ThePizzaLovingTurtle, off to save money for all of these darn games. See you.


	7. Mettle vs Metal

**Super Smash Bros. For Wii U and 3DS: The Glory of Custom Moves**

 **Metal vs. Mettle**

Back on Outset Island's great mountain looking out to sea, we see our cartoonish hero clad in green still staring out to the Great Sea and beyond as the sun raised itself overhead, granting light upon the land.

However, he faced a bigger predicament at hand: His shoes. They were constantly dragging him down at this point, and after a while, Toon Link had discovered that they hardly protected him from falling back at all. Really, they just weighed him down more than anything. It was a pain just making his way up the hill so that he could reflect on walking up the hill in the first place. He attempted everything of the sort: Trying to get knocked out, using his own hammer to attempt to pry his feet out, he even went to another Smasher for assistance.

* * *

Garbed in armor that was both white and black without any shoes to his name, a young swordsman with white hair stared down at Toon Link, who had his boots on display, sitting on a chair in front of him. The new swordsman had a sword sheathed by his side, and was staring at Toon Link's Iron Boots, though

"...You want me to do what again?" The cloud-colored swordsman asked.

Toon Link pushed on his metal shoes for emphasis over and over again, making shouts and yells that unfortunately did not count as actual words. Still not entirely understanding the cartoonish, cat-eyed boy in green, all the other swordsman could do was arch an eyebrow. Eventually, all it took was a bit of an "artist's vision". Reaching behind him, despite covering up the actual picture, the large amount of scribbling meant that Toon Link was attempting to communicate in another way. When finished, Toon Link presented a simple picture, that of the man standing above him, labeled "Corrin" on the picture, gripping a sword that resembled a stick in the picture.

"Corrin" blinked, sneaking a glance towards his sword's sheath by his side. The added gestures of Toon Link attempting to shove his Iron Boots off of his feet were more than enough of an idea for what he needed to do. Gulping, Corrin retrieved his sword out of its resting place, the golden blade glistening in the light of the room they were in. Lowering the weapon down by Toon Link's legs, suddenly teeth that of a saw revealed themselves on the sword, rotating like a chainsaw. The whirring grew until the blade spun faster and faster. Toon Link grinned as Corrin approached, finally going to escape from his shoes, until he noticed that the sword was aiming a bit higher than he initially expected.

"Hold still." Corrin began sweating, closing one eye.

Toon Link's already comically humongous eyes shot open, and he began shaking his head rapidly. "Haaaaaagh!"

* * *

While Toon Link had escaped from the excursion with his legs attached, the miniature scratch on his leg was still sore from where the Yato blade Corrin had attempted to use to excavate the younger one's body from the shackles of the boots, and still stung whenever he tried to run. Not that he could do much running in kicks that held you to the earth. Frowning, Toon Link got to his feet slowly, stumbling somewhat, and while a minor battle of balance ensued, gravity won out over Toon Link, and he fell flat on the dirt.

Growling in anger, he stood up once more, and scanning the area around him, made way for the closest rock, and kicked wildly. The resulting clang reverberated his boots, causing him to shake somewhat. Landing back on the ground, he sat with a frown, staring down at his feet.

His bare feet.

"..." Toon Link had said nothing, and wiggled his small toes.

Sighing, he stood up and stretched. He was not exactly sure if he was lucky or if that was just completely stupid. Either way, he was finally free from the prison of feet that were the boots. While he now retained his former abilities to run at a pace faster than a tortoise, he was in a serious predicament. It seemed that more and more of his fellow Smashers seemed to use more and more new moves.

At least, for the most part…

* * *

Sitting on a random island, Robin and the Link he had "fought", if you could call it that, sat on the tan sand, staring at the open sea, their clothes drying off to the side, leaving them in bare white shirts.

"...Read any good books lately?" Robin asked.

Across from him, Link just shrugged. The tactician sighed, and the two of them continued their gaze out to the great blue sea.

* * *

But ignoring the two castaways, Toon Link was back to experimenting. He had dragged out a sizable amount of items from his vast inventory. Weapons of all shapes and sizes were set on the mountain top. First and foremost, in front of him laid a boomerang and a bow, both yellow and eloquent in their simplicity. Grabbing the curved projectile, Toon Link stared at the sky above the water, and hurled it.

It circled in the air perfectly before returning.

Despite its reliability, it was already used and being countered against in his matches. A simple curving weapon that could easily be blocked. Reaching his palm out, he caught one of the sides of the boomerang and stowed it away almost as soon as he caught it. Both that and his bow and arrow were pretty self-explanatory; the weapons painted yellow were mainly just projectiles. What else did he have?

There was his hammer. He was definitely keeping that at the very least. Inspecting the items at his disposal, he had come to a conclusion. There was little offensive weaponry. While Toon Link had his sword, there were only a handful of other ways he could innovate in ways he could think of. He could mix it up with his arrows, possibly even light them on fire, but he had heard that had not gone well in a previous iteration of Smash matches...

* * *

Meanwhile in Melee:

A younger Link sat under a large moon. Frowning, he felt as if though there was something he needed to do. Looking up at the sky-

"Hyaaagh!" He cried out, before getting crushed by the lunar rock along with every other being in the world.

* * *

So since that was out of the picture, he had a few options left. Toon Link frowned, staring down at a pear, a large leaf, and a handful of bait. The fruit and bait were hardly snacks for him. Grasping the pear, he looked towards the sky, where a flock of seagulls circled overhead. Raising the pear slowly until it was over his head, Toon Link shielded his eyes from the sun with his other hand, staring up at the birds. The yellow fruit in his hand gleamed, until it was suddenly snatched out of its resting place. Suddenly, a seagull hovered in front of him, already chewing the snack between its beak. Blinking, Toon Link looked towards it curiously. It seemed to be waiting for him patiently.

Deciding to test his newfound avian companion, Toon Link walked to his left, away from the cliff. The bird followed him; it rested on the ground when he stopped. The swordsman made way for the right. So did the seagull. Smiling, Toon Link thought he could make use of this. However, a sudden squeaking would soon capture his attention. Looking back towards his gear, he gasped. The bait that he had haphazardly left on the ground, a multitude of small red pellets, was already being gobbled up by peckish rats. While the seagull had finally tired of hanging out with the little green hero, Toon Link had decided to take action against the rats. Running towards his gear, he grabbed the leaf on the ground, and using it like a fan, blew the vermin away using a gust of wind.

Perhaps this could be it! All of a sudden, a strategy in his mind clicked. He could use the seagull to attack from above, and he could blow rats towards his opponents!

"..." Toon Link rubbed the back of his head.

Well, it was a work in progress after all. Scurrying to pick up the fallen pieces of bait left on the ground, he stowed the pellets in his pouch, along with all of the other items scattered about the mountaintop. After retrieving the very last object of his arsenal, he slugged his Skull Hammer above his little body and began making way, slow but steady, and this time without any iron bringing him down, walking down the mountain.

* * *

With a cheery feeling, Toon Link had already entered his next match proudly, his cat eyes positively beaming. As he was being transported via magic or some… bizarre technology towards the next stage, he brandished his hammer, ready to fight his opponent. Reappearing on the same wooden sea platform above the water that his taller form had used to duel the unfortunate tactician that was Robin, he breathed in the fresh sea air. Already, seagulls began hovering above the platform, giving Toon Link a good ounce of courage for the fight. Until he saw his opponent.

"Hi!" Kirby waved from atop his mech.

While the mech was hardly taller than a building of any description, it still towered over the short Toon Link. Its fists were ready for a brawl, too, already practicing punches. Nevertheless, Toon Link was willing and ready to fight. It was almost comical, a blob of pink riding on the top of an equally pink robot against a green-clad boy with a hammer larger than himself.

However, these oddities were just another aspect of Smash, and it hardly deterred the announcer. "Three! Two! One!"

Both readied the weapons of their choice, each smiling with a passion.

"Go!" The announcer exclaimed.

Unlike the battle that had taken place before, neither of them had quite decided to bolt just yet. Kirby, whether it was the mech itself or an actual sense of caution; he edged slowly towards his adversary, readying himself for a punch as he walked. Toon Link had his Skull Hammer ready, held in front of him defensively. As soon as both of them approached the middle of the stage, they struck at the same time, steel clashing against steel with blows that rang out for miles.

They were hardly over, and went right to the clashing against each other, smashing blow after blow with sparks flying out into the open sea. Eventually in their grapple, the mecha Kirby piloted grabbed the Skull Hammer and tossed it to the side, Toon Link hiding behind his shield as the heavy weapon bounced over him. As he saw his biggest weapon blown out of his hands, Toon Link switched back to his own sword.

He started to regret that decision when the robot started doing something dubious. A light emanated out of robot's mouth, and it appeared to grasp the sword. That was when things started going downhill. The similarities between Kirby and the robot soon clicked when the machine imitated Toon Link, its arms suddenly transforming from pudgy, destructive fists to equally destructive blades of light.

If Toon Link could speak, he might have said something along the lines of, "You've gotta be kidding me!". But he can't, so, "Gyah!" might have to do. Now he had to deal with two swords clashing against his own. If you could really call those devastating blades of light he fought against "swords". Eventually, it seemed as though Kirby had taken advantage of Toon Link's lack of dual-wielding and tossed him, having flung the blades from underneath his feet, launching him into the air. As he landed back on his feet, he grit his teeth, and decided to try out one of his other items.

Reaching into his pouch, Toon Link shouted as he flung bait into Kirby's face. The red dots stuck to the puffball's cheeks. Then, just like that, they were gone, having vanished down Kirby's… Throat? Figuring that was practically useless, he decided to opt for the pear instead. He reached back into his pouch, only for Kirby to attempt suctioning up the grub yet again. This time however, Toon Link made sure to keep a tight grip on the fruit.

A seagull flocking over the two battlers began descending from the sky. The little swordsman smiled, this was his chance at retaliation!

"SquaAAAWWWKK-"

Toon Link stared. Where once his feathered friend flew, was a cluster of feathers and a Kirby with its mouth full. Grimacing, Toon Link had decided this had gone too far. Sure, battling by themselves was all in good fun, but eating a bird? ...There were no rules against it, but someone had to take a stand…? The morals were questionable. But Toon Link's next move was meant as avenging his feathered acquaintance.

Leaping up into the air, he pulled the giant leaf he had stowed away, the wind catching it at just the right angle. The breeze carried him towards Kirby rather quickly. Once above him, he noticed that Kirby was already glaring back at him, raising his blades. Ignoring the threat of more scrapes, he launched down from his strategic position in the air, pulling out one last weapon.

The stick Toon Link used smacked Kirby on the face once. Kirby blinked, tears threatening. While he was hurting from the blow from the wood, he would certainly not let this go without a fight. All of a sudden, the mech's appearance reverted back to its original pink, strong arm form, and grappled the swordsman. Despite the green hero's struggles, the grip the machine had was too strong. Soon, they began lifting up into the sky, picking up speed. The angle at which the robot had the cartoonish legendary swordsman was meant for a throw. Gulping, Toon Link braced himself as he felt himself getting lifted into the air.

The rush of wind past his ears meant that he was falling. What he did not understand was the fact that Kirby was yelling too. Opening one eye, he realized that both of them were heading towards the water. The puffball had meant to slam Toon Link into the floor, but had missed. Now both would pay in the brine of the sea. Once the two realized this, they could not talk, but they certainly could scream before the smashed into the water.

* * *

"...Ah, I still can't believe this island has livestock. Lucky we managed to end up here, huh?" Robin commented, raising a steak lifted on a spear made of wood, "Nice cooking, by the way."

Sitting across from him behind a campfire and a spit, Link nodded, already beginning to dig into the meat left on the spit. Grinning, Robin raised his own meal as if it were a glass of wine to cheer with, and began his feast. As he ravenously devoured the meat, he suddenly noticed an object drifting towards them. Momentarily taking his eyes off of the meat and onto the object, he noticed two small creatures of sort on top. Eventually, the unidentified vessel sailing on the waves came close to the shore of the deserted island, and landed on the sand.

"Hmm?" Robin blinked, staring at the object.

Pink, metallic, and drenched in water with seaweed as an added decoration. Before the snow-haired tactician could come close to inspect the mysterious machine, two familiar faces popped out underneath a clump of seaweed, gasping for breath, tiredly crawling up the tan shores up onto the grassy knots of the island's mainland.

"...Link?" Robin called.

The survivalist attending to the fire sat up and stared across from the makeshift camp with a mouthful of mouthwatering steak. He blinked.

Tired, but still peckish, the growling noise coming from within Kirby and Toon Link meant that they may need seconds. Sighing, the regular Link got up, took another spear of wood lying about, and set off to gather more food as the newcomers to the island of mishaps began laying siege to the food.

* * *

AN: And there you have it, a Toon Link vs. Kirby chapter.

Thanks for reading, this is ThePizzaLovingTurtle, off to prepare for a visit to some tropical islands, see you soon.


	8. Green and Pink, Green and Pink, Peace!

**Super Smash Bros. for 3DS and Wii U: The Glory of Custom Moves**

 **The Year of "L" Never Ends! (Except it did.)**

Luigi was… Running. Despite being less than a pleasant way to start the day, a chapter of a story on the Internet even less, he ran regardless, flailing his green sleeves and white gloves around as he fled. Behind him was an adversary as old as time itself. Both he and his brother dreaded the guy. Time and time again, he showed up, and it was hardly ever a pleasant time when he did.

Yes indeed. Wario was quite the character, attempting to mow the green brother down with his motorcycle.

Now, Luigi was more of those, "lover" rather than a "fighter" types. For the most part anyways. He was certainly not the most courageous, but fans have held him as sort of an underrated celebrity compared to his brother, Mario. That being said, while he would get wins in Smash every so often, it was still a trying task for the poor guy. Now he had to outrun a motorcycle.

"It's a living." Luigi sighed, just before he was run over.

Flying through the sky, Luigi caught a glimpse of Wario, still riding his motorcycle, laughing it up as he rode. The green lean plumber shook his head. And exploded, a pillar of light emanating from the side of the screen.

* * *

Landing back in the lobby with a tire tread mark on his noggin, Luigi sat dazedly in a chair. The initial sound of a plumber plopping down into a seat caused quite a few people to turn their heads. Upon noticing how beat up he was, they immediately turned around and went back to their regularly scheduled nothing as if it were just another day. But just before Luigi had the chance to leave…

"Luigi, you're up again." A booming voice called.

Whimpering, Luigi walked off of his chair, and stared back at the others. They all gave him small thumbs-ups (at least the ones that had thumbs) and fake, reassuring smiles. Still, anything was better than nothing, and as Luigi left for another massacre of… Himself, he smiled back, but as he turned around, his mustache drooped, knowing that failure was imminent. He sighed, making for the next match.

* * *

A few minutes later, as the characters relaxed, awaiting the results, a loud bang sounded throughout the room, presumably from a set of doors. The combatants turned around, noticing a handful of tired, drenched, seaweed-covered fighters. An exhausted Robin, his coat sagging low, stood in front of a shirtless, sweating Link, who had a pink puffball and a smaller, but equally exhausted version of him in his hands. As he stumbled in, he set the two down, before falling on the floor tiredly. Setting his red, shoe-like appendages on the floor, Kirby looked around for a split-second, before running back out the door. Link scowled, yelling back at him as he left. The white-haired tactician simply shook his head.

"...Robin?" A familiar feminine voice attracted Robin's attention.

However weary he was, Robin managed a small smile as he turned to his swordswoman companion, Lucina, her blade at her side as she peered curiously at the tactician.

"I take it your last fight was less than satisfactory?" Lucina tilted her head.

Just before Robin was about to reply, our chapter's protagonist came back from his escapades over at the battlefields. Once more, the green Mario brother fell from grace into a chair, dizzily spinning about with scorch marks aplenty.

"Well, certainly could've been better. It could've been…" He glanced at the dazed plumber, "Worse."

Luigi shivered as he remembered his life flashing before his eyes as a bomb exploded in his face. His mustache was burning slightly, but the flames were easily taken care of as Robin waved in his general direction, dispelling the heat. Blinking, Luigi sighed once again, rubbing dust off his face.

Lucina reached into her cloak, offering a handkerchief to the less fortunate fighter, who gladly accepted it, wiping off the soot from his face. "I suppose the grass is greener on the other side."

Upon hearing that, Luigi practically slumped himself down into a mild depression. Lucina, oblivious to her unfortunate play on words, glanced at Robin curiously. He simply shrugged. Curled up in a ball on the floor, Luigi moped for a full minute before that ever dreadful voice came back with yet another announcement.

"Last match, Luigi!" The doors on the other side opened again, a light flowing through.

Slowly, he unraveled himself from his fetal position on the ground and got to his feet slowly and reluctantly, with a grimace that said it all. While the group of Smashers previously stranded on a random island arguably suffered just as well, they pitied the overall-wearing man as he walked. Each step that he took seemed to last an eternity to Luigi, and he felt as though the earth was shaking as he made his way inside the doors. As he approached the doors, he paused suddenly, and yet the earth still felt as though it were shaking somewhat. Turning back, he looked at the others, who had their attention drawn to the floor. Luigi blinked. Were they in the midst of an earthquake?!

"POYO!"

Nope, just a Kirby.

Through the entrance on the other side, Kirby could be seen stampeding through the hall, in a mech decorated with that of the seafloor, starfish clinging to the arms and water sloshing in the round cockpit of the mech Kirby rode. As he approached, Luigi's eyes went wide in surprise, and, for lack of a better option, began striding away into the light of the doors. But before the doors could shut, or the mech could stop for that matter, Kirby, his Robobot armor, and Luigi spiraled into the next battle.

The doors slammed shut behind them. All anyone could do was stay and gawk at the absurdity of it all, which was easy considering most of which they could do normally did not include speaking if you were to neglect Robin and Lucina.

"...Are there any regulations set in stone here?" Lucina piped up with a frown.

At her side, Robin simply shrugged. "You know just as well as I do."

* * *

Through the light, Luigi and Kirby spun about, the plumber hanging on for dear life on one of the metal arms of the machine, salt water being sloshed up into his face, giving him quite a bad taste in his mouth. Kirby, on the other hand, could not be more ecstatic, cheering as they all fell through time and space.

* * *

Eventually, the light trip ceased to be, and they found themselves stationed in a crystalline cave of sorts. A grassy platform rising out of the cave floor, crystals stacked in the background away from the flat expanse of the platform. Luigi bit his gloved hands, shivering in the lukewarm waters of the mech, not of the plain temperature, but of the sheer terror of losing once more, in a painful way that is. Kirby, however, seemed somewhat determined, despite the fact that this was not his fight at all. Across from the two of them, new fighters began dropping in, ready to attack.

Luigi's mouth gaped open. It was one thing to fight anyone in general. The fact that his own brother as well as his brother's determinedly difficult to canonize love interest was standing across from his was just asking for a beating. Mario, garbed in red and blue overalls, his trademark fashion, along with his ever proud mustache, stood, grinning across from him, with a woman wearing a pink dress with a blue brooch, small earrings dangling off of her ears, with one golden crown atop her blonde hair, big blue eyes staring across from them. The woman known as Princess Toadstool, Peach.

"Mama mia." Luigi covered his eyes with his hands.

Kirby simply pat Luigi on the back reassuringly, turning towards the others, with his mech armor ready to go. The bare, smoothed rock-like side of the stage stared back at them, Mario stretching his arms, a fire in his eyes. While Peach hardly seemed like she was aching for a fight whatsoever, the glint in her eyes was somewhat unnerving, and the frying pan she held in her hands was even more so. No slouch to combat, the savior of the planet Popstar grasped Luigi using his mech, lifting him out of the small tub that had been created in the suit of metallic armor, placing a soggy plumber on the grass.

Mario smiled at his brother, and he smiled back. They both adopted fighting stances. "Here we go."

The timer began ticking: "Three! Two! One,"

Then it stopped almost instantaneously, "Go!"

Kirby took off almost immediately, the blazing engines drying Luigi off in an instant. Already, it seemed as though it were to be a battle between two teams, with Kirby leading the charge. His boots making noise as he tread quickly, Mario struck out with an open palm, fire in his gloves, only for the attack to be deflected by Kirby's own punch. The machine creaked, but it was clear that it would be the winner of this small battle of fists. Mario grunted, but before the mech could unleash a devastating blow, a vegetable interrupted its attack.

A curious turnip, with a face of sorts, bounced up on Kirby's head, causing him to lose focus for a second. When he regained his composure, he yelped in a way only a marshmallow could; Princess Peach hovered above, and under her dress, her legs carried heels, ready to strike. And strike she did, firing kicks after kicks upon Kirby's noggin, the only protection being a pilot's goggles. Kirby backed away with a frown, and that was when Mario retaliated, the crimson crusader launching another open palm strike, launching the mech away towards the grass, and off balance to boot.

Luigi gulped, raising his guard, making noises that were **similar** to a martial artist, with his white gloves raised in the air. However, no amount of "hiyas" can block a mech launched towards you, blocking you underneath its weight. Wiggling underneath the robot, both he and Kirby struggled to make it up quickly, and while the metal monstrosity had gotten to its feet, Luigi was still somewhat winded from the blow. Suddenly, both Mario and Peach moved in, with their respective weapons at their disposal. Before they could get there, a glint managed to catch their eye, and it was not of a crystal.

All four of the combatants stared up into the sky. A ball, multicolored like a rainbow, the Smash insignia displayed on it, hovered above the ground, moving to and fro. All four of them glanced at one another. The three, not-crushed-into-the-ground characters leaped up, reaching for the Smash Ball as Luigi un-flattened himself slowly, reverting back to his three-dimensional form.

Mario raised his fist and slammed the ball, causing it to plummet for a few seconds. Similar to one playing volleyball, the princess floated up with a parasol, shattering and scattering fragments of the ball. Kirby's mech, while strong, suffered from a clear weakness in that it was slow; ascending was no exception. The slow thrusters sputtering flames and smoke built on the back of the mecha could only fly so far up, and while it just barely managed to grasp the Smash Ball, one punch from Mario grounded the mech.

Groaning from the initial pain that came from a block of metal slamming into you, it was no surprise that Luigi would scramble away in fear as Kirby came back down from the sky. The pink creature groaned, attempting to get up, but it seemed he had received one or two many knocks on his noggin at that moment, as he could only fall back, his mech creaking as it attempted to make it back up. Eventually, the thrusters sputtered weakly, before going out. In one of the hands of the mech, a glow could be seen, and as the mech attempted to get back up, it opened its palms up.

Floating out of the palm of Kirby's Robobot armor, the Smash Ball glowed, capturing Luigi in its majesty. However, if he were to beat his brother and the princess, he would need to use it to his advantage. Taking it in his hands, he watched as Mario and Peach's faces went blank from shock. Crushing it, he could feel power emanate through his body. As he stepped forward, he grinned, confidence overriding his fear-

"Aahoohoohoo!" He cried out as he was disassembled into green, tan, black, and brown pixels, swallowed by the Robobot armor.

As Kirby came to, he suddenly felt another entity at his side. Glancing to the side, he noticed Luigi, blinking, staring back at his teammate, just as confused. They were both in the Robobot, but there was something… Different about it.

For one, the color. The sheen resembled the same green worn on the lean green plumbing machine sitting by Kirby. There was now a green, spherical windshield covering the robot, with an "L" serving as a window through the glass. Had you been looking at the front, a mustache of sorts was decorating the mouth of the machine. It was bizarre, and had Mario and Peach been looking at it from any other way, it might have looked extremely silly.

But, alas, as two ginormous vacuum cleaners of sorts were aimed at them right now, all they could do was glance at each other. As if bidding each other adieu, Mario lowered his cap off his head, Peach giving him one final kiss on the forehead…

They cried out as a strong gust enveloped them, pulling them into the two vacuums, and, after a moment of swinging around, were launched out of the vacuums, launched off into space. In awe of what happened, the two inside of the mech had their mouths gaping open, the glass, cap-resembling visor dropping off of their robot's head. Both the plumber and the puffball watched as their opponents vanished in the sky. They glanced at each other. With no further hesitation, they grinned, smacking their hands together in a high five as they looked towards the ceiling of the cave, the stars blinking back at them overhead through a hole in the ceiling.

* * *

AN: Robobot armor combined with the Poltergust acts as the number one ghostbusting device. Sorry for the delay!

Well, that's just my theory anyways, let's skip the theories and go straight to the reviews.

Thanks XShinkuKikinX for reviewing! Certainly an interesting story of taunt battles, you have. I'm not sure if Kirby would change colors as he aged, but the guy is full of secrets. I apologize for the lack of dialogue. I like writing less talkative characters more, and since Nintendo characters seem to have a habit of remaining silent for most of the time, I thought it would work.

But anyways, thanks for reading, this is ThePizzaLovingTurtle, off to finish my weekly quota on my Pikmin story!


	9. Meet your Maker

**Super Smash Bros. For Wii U and 3DS: The Glory of Custom Moves**

 **Bowser's (And Junior's) Cruel, Smashing Story**

He who stomps upon the crusader in red.

He who seeks to wreak havoc upon the land under his mighty fist.

He who…

"Ugh, Dad, I can't do this."

"Junior, just man up and finish the line."

"Fine."

He who strikes fear into the hearts of all.

The King of Koopas, the Baron of Badness, the-

"This is stupid! There's no one here to hear it!"

"Junior, you're supposed to say- Ugh." Bowser sighed, planting his dragon-like face in his scaly palm, "Nevermind."

Within the rooms of a dark castle atop a sea of lava, Bowser, the self-proclaimed King of Koopas and his son sat by a roaring fireplace, seated atop two separate lavish thrones, with velvet cushions and a scarlet carpe leading through a hall towards a set of double doors covered in spikes. The light from the fire cast large shadows, and revealed the two of them, with the younger Bowser moping on his chair.

The two had similar appearances to a turtle mixed with an ox. Bowser had big bushy orange brows and a shell covered in spikes, black gauntlets wrapped around his arms, presumably to look threatening. Both had yellow skin and scales, and were practically the same except for a few differences. His young offspring had a smaller appearance, but instead of menacing eyes, he had black pupils and a bib with a mouth full of sharp teeth drawn on it. Next to his miniature throne, a spherical vehicle with a face that resembled a clown sat by him, looking extremely inactive.

"Why do I have to do it Dad?" Bowser Jr. asked with a glare, "It's so cheesy!"

The elder baddie scoffed, crossing his arms. "It's threatening! It's meant to be a gateway into a battle."

"Can't we just beat them up and say it after or something?" He suggested.

For a moment, Bowser bit his lip, tapping his fingers on his scaly arms. "...Yeah, that makes sense I guess. But don't forget! We need to preserve the fear it strikes, got it?"

"Got it..." Bowser Jr. shook his head with a sigh.

With that said, Bowser grinned and departed from his throne, with Bowser Jr. following suit. Bowser Jr. hopped into the vehicle, which buzzed to life, suddenly taking off into the air, a happy mien forming on the front, a propellor on the bottom lifting him into the air. Despite his vehicles ecstatic expression, he was sighing behind his father's back simply in relief that he stopped egging him on about battle suggestions. It had been hours and hours of talk about "promoting" Bowser and his might. Despite all of that constant embarrassing speeches that he was roped into, Junior agreed that their awesomeness was to be celebrated. But for whatever reason, instead of just leaving a mark on the opposition, his father had decided to use more opulent ideas.

" _More like lame ideas."_ Bowser Jr. thought, trudging along the scarlet carpet.

"Hey!" Bowser glared at his son, who hopped up in shock, giving him a bizarre look, "It'll be great! Trust me. We'll even do that 'thing' you wanted to try out on the battlefield."

At the mention of whatever ambiguous idea the two had in mind, Bowser Jr. grinned mischievously, the two beginning to chortle and laugh in a hearty, sinister manner. You know, like all villain stereotypes. Reaching the two set of doors, Bowser cocked an eyebrow.

"The spikes are just as shiny as usual." Bowser commented.

Right before he punched said spikes, launching the set of doors open. As the doors slammed into the sides of the brick walls of the castle, they came back flattened, the two walking out into the dim, warm rock that led out of the castle, a few plumes of fire launching out of the lava as they went.

Hardly turning around, Bowser announced, "Your king's leaving, don't trash the castle when we're gone!"

The command echoed throughout the castle. Smirking, the two went on their way, towards whatever battlefield was on the agenda next.

Behind a tower pillar, close towards the castle, two figures on the top of the pillar stared at the two as they left. Through a set of binoculars, a short creature in a blue robe watched, another creature, similar to a turtle with a green shell sat next to him, arms crossed, lying on a black brick.

"Well?" The turtle spoke up, "Is it clear Kamek?"

"Almost…" Kamek coughed, staring as eventually they faded into the distance, becoming specks from his point of view, "Now it is."

With that said, Kamek suddenly heard a popping noise next to him. Turning about, he adjusted his glasses, noticing a soda bottle, foaming from the top.

"Great." The Koopa grinned, raising it in a cheer, Kamek rubbing his hands eagerly.

* * *

Meanwhile as Bowser's pad was beginning to look less threatening as the party grew in the background, he and his son had already reached the waiting room, punching open the doors yet again. Though, this time, it appeared that the king's knuckles were sore. Shaking his fist to relieve the pain, he and the younger Koopa walked in, taking up a seat or two. Upon noticing him, a handful of the other contestants promptly shuffled five feet away. Rolling his eyes, Bowser simply glared at the door, waiting impatiently.

Eventually as the doors opened on the other side, Bowser hardly needed an invitation. Placing one hand on on his son's vehicle, he pulled him into the hall, grinning like a madman. His son braced himself, closing his eyes as the light enveloped the two of them.

* * *

As per the norm in this wacky universe, both of the Bowsers popped out into another stage altogether, Bowser and Bowser Jr. spitting hot fire (in a literal sense mind you) as they entered the stage, with the intent of simply looking intimidating, nevermind the fact that a wildfire threat was entirely possible. Stomping down, it was a wonder that the stage did not shatter. A large dirt platform raised out of the ground, the sides rounded out, grass sticking out from sparse dirt collections. Some giant loomed overhead in the background, a long sword of sorts sticking out from the large, immobile beast's palm.

Bowser seemed to cringe upon recognizing the place he had landed. Already, it also seemed, there were enemies to defeat straight from the start. Across from him, it appeared that there was already a pair of enemies. Or two. Or three.

"...Huh?" Bowser glanced closely at their opponents.

"Uh, Dad…" Bowser Jr. gulped, backing away.

A collection of strange humans surrounded them. They all seemed to have rather odd facial features of various description, round faces, with multiple different eye types and colors, and were armed to the teeth with swords, guns of sorts, and their fists. It was extremely unnerving to say the least, and immediately they started backing away from the six other bloodthirsty creatures.

* * *

"Alright," A booming voice emerged from the waiting room's doors, "Who's the wiseguy who used the Cruel Brawl transport?! Our cloned Mii fighters haven't been fed yet!"

Immediately, everyone stared to a pair of seats, now resting on broken hinges from where a certain turtle sat. The gloved hand with the large voice simply groaned.

* * *

In the short time that it took for them to realize that they had a grave mistake. The Miis in question were brutal, as soon as they moved an inch, they dashed towards them, delivering slices to their shells, somehow cutting their scales from the inside, punches that launched them dozens of feet into the air without breaking a sweat, and were constantly peppered with painful lasers. All in all, despite their natural protection, it did jack squat against the enemies.

"Gah!" Bowser grunted, landing face first in the dirt, attempting to pull his head out of the crater.

Junior simply smirked next to him; a saw erected itself from the clown car, waving around rapidly towards the humanoids. "I got this!"

As he dashed, wielding the circular saw, he hardly noticed the shine on one of the gunner's weapons. Approaching, he realized too late that there was something awry. Aiming its cannon, the Mii launched thousands of bullets at the younger turtle. The sheer force was enough to knock him back past his father, who had finally managed to unearth his own face. His first sight since his retrieval of himself was a fist cocked and slamming into said face, simultaneously sending him back. The two laid on the ground, dazed, getting up slowly but surely. They grit their teeth, got to their reptilian feet, and charged, claws and fire breath at the ready.

Had the writer had the patience to describe the constant agony that came with the Miis dodging flames, cannonballs, and retaliating with equally painful attack options, there would have been a text montage of brawling that would have gotten nowhere. Instead, the assault finally ended when they were on the edge of the stage, steam rising from their maws and several bruises now smack dab on their noggins.

Growling, Bowser slammed the ground with his fists in complete anger, which at this point were extremely sore, taking warm breaths in and out. He glanced at his son, who was just about as roughed up as he was. But, same as his stubborn father, he was not done yet.

"Junior. Now it's time to try that 'thing'." The King of the Koopas said, shakily rising from his dirty perch.

Nodding just as unsteadily, the young Koopaling crawled back into his own vehicle, searching through the seat, as Bowser prepared for any potential onslaught by the horrifyingly powerful humanoids with oddly placed facial expressions. Still, they were certainly a threat to be reckoned with, throughout that battle, they showed no signs of stopping, advancing closer with intent to kill.

Suddenly, Bowser Jr. popped back out of the vehicle, carrying some sort of controller in his hand, a large screen smack dab in the middle of it, with multiple buttons on the front. Now possessing the odd controller, he retrieved a pen of sorts from the back, and stared at the screen. The dark screen in question illuminated itself, revealing a bird's eye view of the exact stage they were sitting on. Opponents slowly edging closer, Bowser Jr. began tapping rapidly, sweating as they closed in.

Strangely, all of a sudden, a standard Koopa in a red shell popped into existence right in front of him. Followed by another one. And another one. Soon, their side of the stage was completely filled with the turtle troopers, Koopa Troopers crowding the stage, providing a wall of force. A few of them glanced around in fear and bewilderment, a few had beverages in their hand, but every single one of them was creeped out and just about ready to leave.

Bowser raised a fist in triumph. "Perfect! That device we stole works! Now we can send as many soldiers as we want!"

"Uh… What happened to the party?" One of them asked aloud, "Where the shell are we?"

His answer was a swift kick, which launched him off the edge, an explosion of light bursting out from the pit he fell in. His subsequent demise alerted the others to the presences of the Miis, one by one, all were getting booted off the stage in painful fashions.

"Hey! Don't just stand there! Attack!" Bowser commanded with a yell, "Junior, keep getting more of them!"

Rolling his eyes, Bowser Jr. started tapping the screen rapidly. The Miis started assaulting the minions with just as much ferocity, punching, kicking, shooting, blasting, slicing and dicing, thinning the wall of baddies down almost as quickly as it was conceived. It began a race of sorts; as he summoned mushroom creatures, turtles, spiked abominations in which to battle the humanoid creations with, they fought back with just the same speed, with the many grunts and screams of pain and agony from the enemies being major telltale signs that things were getting intense. So intense in fact, that no one realized that the added weight of multiple enemies, alive or unconscious, was shattering the platform foundation. Up until the point where it was increasingly loud.

At first, everyone thought it might have something to do with pain, and continued their full on war. Then they realized that the ground was shaking, and everyone stopped immediately, staring down at the floor. A fissure, titanic in size, had grown in the ground. For a moment, their was peace. No one was getting beaten, neither were they shouting or yelling. It was completely silent.

Then the platform snapped in two, the world seeming to screech as soon as it did.

* * *

"Ow." Bowser Jr. groaned as he rubbed the miniature bandage placed on his head.

Bowser himself sighed, patting his son on the back. "Eh, that could've gone better."

"That's just great." Bowser Jr. frowned, glancing at the oddly familiar controller, which now had a crack splitting the screen in two, "We didn't even get to win with this stupid, broken thing."

"Hey, at least you're not like the other, broken things." The king grimaced, glancing to the side.

A hall full of hospital beds housed hundreds of thousands of Bowser's minions, who boredly sat with injuries untold. One of Bowser's own spikes on his back was dented for some reason. Regardless, it seemed as though no one would be returning to Smash anytime soon.

* * *

The moral of the story?

Never play Cruel Brawl on another stage except Battlefield.

Or cheat, I suppose.

* * *

AN: Mario Maker powers in Smash would be completely broken. Just like the many bones of the henchmen in this chapter. I thought it made sense for Bowser or one of his children... Or Koopaling acquaintances... I dunno, one of them to use a Mario Maker Gamepad. Smash would be broken if that were the case, though, so let's be glad that had not happened.

Moving on, let's take a look at a review. Thanks XShinkuKikinX for reviewing! Honestly, not entirely sure exactly what Kirby's gender is, nor would I like to get into that unless going on a tangent sounds good. But thanks for reviewing regardless, I'm sure it'll be made crystal clear somehow somewhere.

Thanks for reading, this is ThePizzaLovingTurtle, time to stop procrastinating.


	10. Smells Like A Wet Dog

**Super Smash Bros. For 3DS and Wii U: The Glory of Custom Moves**

 **Smells Like A Wet Dog**

In the universe in which Smash Bros. battles reigns supreme, there have been many contestants far and wide that have proved their might or prove their fame to serve as an entry ticket to one of the greatest bouts of all time. Some are iconic heroes, others may have great powers and skills, and some are arguably ways to boost sales for other games… Cough cough. But in light of all of those specifications, ignoring most of those requirements, there is one duo that has managed, almost against all odds, to prevail in a world filled with only the strongest and famous heroes.

A brown dog and a purple duck.

(...This is a thing we're doing? ...Alright.)

Duck Hunt, specifically the dog and the duck, are… A dog and a duck. Literally just that. They do… Dog and duck things? I dunno. For the most part, the Duck Hunt dog spends its time walking around in large grasslands and swamps, searching for a duck to catch, and the Duck Hunt duck prefers hiding in grass, going out for the occasional flight. Depending on the day, however, it may not end well for the dear old duck. Sometimes, it would find itself getting shot out of the sky, spiraling down to earth, where the dog was waiting, waiting to…

Grab it by the throat and present it to the air. It was an extremely complicated relationship, to be sure. But despite the constant pattern of, "hunter catch prey", they were pretty okay with that, as long as they appeased the hunter. Speaking of, there was always a hunter gunning at the ducks. Every time the both of them began their morning routine, somewhat with a trigger finger and a crosshair would shoot down one of the ducks. It stung the first time the duck was shot, but once it figured out that it did not DIE upon impact for whatever reason, it was fine with indulging in the sport.

* * *

However, anyone who is familiar with this story knows that it is not a Duck Hunt story, of course. Nowadays, they spent a little less time getting shot down and laughing mischievously, and participated in Smash battles. The group; dog, duck, and sniper sat in an empty white void, a solitary plain platform holding them aloft. The animals sat on the stage, scratching themselves or preening their wing, respectively. Suddenly, three shots rang out to the side, startling the two organisms, sending them reeling to the ground, ducking for cover from the hail-fire. In front of them, where a sandbag once sat in the middle of the stage, was a plume of smoke. Blinking, the duo stared at the spot where the punching bag once stood, a grunt of satisfaction coming from elsewhere.

Their awe was quelled as the sandbag fell back down in its spot, then somehow stood up, staring at them with two black ovular eyes. Blinking, the dog and duck tapped the sandbag using their appendages, devoid of any opposable thumbs, the sandbag simply blinking back at them. They could swear that they heard a disappointed growl, had it not been for a), the E10+ restriction, and b), the fact that they were animals lacking vocal chords. Their anatomy is debatable, but the point was, they distinctly noticed the shooter's disappointed sigh, and could distinctly notice a door shutting in the background. The two blinked, staring at each other worriedly. They stared straight at the sandbag, pointing directly towards it, awaiting the barrage of blasts that would be shot at it.

They waited, and waited. The dog began gnawing on Sandbag, the semi-sentient bag barely keeping its eyes open. His avian companion fluttered about, finding a perch in Sandbag as well, resting on top of it tiredly. Eventually, the two became increasingly aware of the fact that their main gunman was gone, sighing their dog and duck versions of a sigh. Even the sandbag with eyes was tired and sick of it, boredly hoping that it could get shot in the face all throughout the period of nothingness. Finally, the duck flapped off of the sandbag's fabric, white top, landing on the dog, and the two began walking off towards the edge of the stage, yawning.

The cocking of a weapon caught their attention. A bullet noise boomed through the stage, the two snapping around back towards where the near indestructible punching bag stood. Just like before, it was gone, with hardly a trace. Glancing towards the sky, both the dog and duck waited, searching for any sign of their practice dummy. There laid nothing but silence. Tongue lolling out happily, the dog barked, dancing about, the duck attempting to hold on for dear life. Out of the corner of their eyes, they could just barely notice a hand giving them a thumbs-up. Gleefully running about, the dog barked, running off the stage, leaping off. The duck shook its head, gripping the dog's coat as best as it could, then began to flap rapidly, carrying both him and his canine companion off the stage completely. The sounds of a door opening and closing in succession signaled the gunman's leave as well.

Having not stuck around, the duo did not notice the sandbag finally coming back down from its journey. The bag hit the ground with a splat, a strange, uncharacteristic color oozing from its face, spreading across the ground slowly, when it finally laid still, staining the platform underneath.

* * *

But the Duck Hunt Duo cared not, for they were too busy being excited, sitting in the waiting room with all of the other combatants, tails wagging back and forth with the speed and tempo of a drummer in a band. They eagerly awaited the doors across from them, faith and excitement revitalized with the return of their anonymous companion. Finally, the path to glory had begun; the doors across from them swung open, revealing a bright light. Yipping, the dog began running, dashing swiftly into the light, warping away immediately.

* * *

They reappeared on a platform. Specifically, one made of stone. In a triangular fashion, there laid three other thin platforms just above them. The battlefield was simple, nothing but blue skies surrounding them. While on the outside it seemed as though they were just a bunch of ragtag animals, they were raring to go. Across from them, their opponent stepped in on the opposite side of the platform. A woman of some cosmic description, an elegant, seemingly mythical light-blue shine to it, with white stars emblazoned on the bottom. Under bright blonde hair, two azure eyes glared at the duo, who glared back as well. Before the timer began, another entity popped up besides her, a star of sort, also with black pupils, similar to the punching bag they had sat with for at least an hour earlier.

The announcer cleared his throat, and began the countdown, same as always. "Three! Two! One! GO!"

The galactic pair drifted over swiftly, Rosalina gripping a wand in her right hand, raising it towards her opponents, a mysterious power emanating from the star-shaped tip. As she did so, her star-shaped companion, the Luma, readied its fists. The animals just stared, almost in awe of their prowess. You could say that they were starstru-

…

...They put their guard up, a bubble-like shield wrapping around them, blocking punches from the Luma and dangerous wand waves. Rolling behind them, the dog stood up on two legs, pointing with both of its hands. Next to him, a man comprised of bits and pixels, garbed in a Western bandit's outfit, turned towards the others, and fired, his shotgun leaving a trail of smoke from the barrel as the invisible projectile bounced off of the the cosmic combatant's shield. Unfortunately for the Luma, the shield only encompassed Rosalina herself. So, that meant that it would have to bear the blow, getting shot and dazed, shaking its head. In retaliation for hitting the Luma, Rosalina fired her own projectile.

The projectile in question being the very same Luma that had just been shot.

Unfortunately, using stars as footballs can only get someone so far. While it had succeeded in smacking the dog across the face, it did nothing to the duck, as the housepet rubbed its face, the wild-born animal pecked using its beak, launching the poor star person away into the air, where it-

POP!

While a straight shotgun fired to the face apparently was nothing but a scratch, a duck's bill was enough to literally blow up a star. Watching as her companion faded into nothing, Rosalina turned around, somewhat of an impatience in her eyes. Rushing over, she raised her wand, and the Duck Hunt Duo could feel themselves ensnared in a grab of some sort, levitating just above the floor. Using her wand to pummel a dog on the face for a second, she eventually decided to spin them around, flinging them off into the sky, where they flew, eventually smashing into a thin platform.

Now lying on the platform, the two shook their heads, hoping to relieve some of the dizziness. Finding that it was hardly working, they glanced at each other, nodding, and ducked for cover. They each cocked one eye open, hoping to find that ever familiar crosshair. Confusion arose when the two noticed that instead of a round, classic crosshair followed by bullets, a blue laser began making its way over to Rosalina. Disregarding safety, the two got to their feet, or, er, one of them got up to their paws as the other remained perched on its back, watching the laser sight move. Eventually, Rosalina also noticed the line of sight, her eyes growing wide.

A gunshot was fired, and the Duck Hunt Duo was overjoyed to see their marksman find its mark, as redundant as that sounded, Rosalina launched up into the air. They watched her go. Throughout her flight, the two could have sworn that her dress looked somewhat different in the lighting above the stage. As she approached, recovered and ready for round two, they noticed that one patch of her dress was darker than the rest.

Pointing out fashion, however, was not their job. Their gunman had not finished taking care of her, so now it was their responsibility. Leaping off of the small platform, the dog panted and the duck squawked as the canine dashed, barking wildly, only to find himself slipping. Now completely bewildered, random tripping being completely unprecedented, they glanced down at the ground. It was stained a fine blue, as if a collection of ink had been spilled on the stage. Before they could react to the odd substance, they found themselves barreling over the side of the stage. The dog, with a small grasp of what was happening, yelped to the duck, hoping that it would get its message. Whether his avian friend did or did not, it hardly mattered, as its wings were covered with the same odd substance.

"GAME!" The announcer called out, as the duo exploded in a pillar of light.

* * *

After the song and dance that was congratulating the winner, a thoroughly confused duck and dog sat on the floor outside of the ambiguous stadium of Smash which had just led them to their embarrassment of a battle. Preening through its feathers, removing anything left of the blue substance, they huffed, lying on the ground. They glanced at where they believed the gunman sat, giving him a less than happy stare.

"Alright, look, I'm sorry okay."

The two yiped, backing away from an unexpected, alien-like voice. Whirling around, they noticed a kid. Of some description. This "kid" had two blue tentacles sticking out of his head, wrapped in a bun by a headband. Black bands wrapped around his eyes, and he wore a tank of sorts strapped to his back, over his shirt. Black shorts with blue colored lines and a pair of sneakers were worn on his feet, and he had a weapon that resembled a vintage game controller shaped like a gun. The dog and duck eyed him suspiciously.

The boy sighed, rubbing the back of his head. "Your… Owner or whoever was out, and I just wanted to help. I just wanted participate," He spoke, somehow conveying his message as clear as water to the two animals.

Suddenly, things began clicking in place. The duck hopped off of the dog, flying behind the "boy". In the tank strapped to his back, the same blue fluid that had tripped up his flight earlier splashed about in the clear container. Flying back, it remained perched on the dog's back, the two glaring.

They were only met with more confusion as the boy disappeared from sight. For a moment, they glanced around, only finding a blue squid on the ground. Wait.

Upon spotting the squid, the boy reappeared once more. This was odd and unnatural, and the duo wanted no part of it, scooting away.

"Wait!" The boy called out, the dog pausing mid-scoot, "Before you go, maybe I could treat you to food or something as an apology?"

While this… "squid-kid" as they had simultaneously decided as to refer to the odd boy as spoke in a language almost unrecognizable to others, the idea of treats and food immediately caught their attention. Walking up to the boy, the dog licked his arm, the duck squawking in a pleased matter. Smiling softly, the boy nodded, and the three of them took off.

"I wish I had guys like you where I live." He spoke, rubbing the dog's head.

* * *

AN: Not all changes are going to be great. But hey, if you aren't going to put the Inklings in Smash, what can you do?

Ignoring post-ballot regrets, let's take a look at those reviews. Thanks red fiend for reviewing. Have to say, not exactly sure how the Skull Hammer would work, but a humongous hammer might be enough to knock almost anybody out, just saying. As for who won… Who knows really?

Thanks for reading, this is ThePizzaLovingTurtle, see you.

I see a little silhouetto of a man…


	11. Pikachu's Power Punch (Lodestar Help Us)

**Super Smash Bros. For Wii U and 3DS: The Glory of Custom Moves**

 **Pikachu's Power Punch (Lodestar Give Us Strength)**

Prism Tower, a shining beacon in the region of Kalos, serves as many, many things in the world of Pokémon. Far across the land and sea, many visitors come to visit this beautiful landmark towering high atop the city of Lumiose. It serves as the city's stunning achievement in technological advancement, lighting up the night of Lumiose City, while simultaneously providing experienced Pokémon Trainers a chance to prove their worth against a force comprised of Electric-Types.

In the world of Smash Brothers, however, Prism Tower serves as a backdrop to the action. High above the tower, there was a metallic platform, where two contenders stood head to head, landing blow against blow. Sparks flew, and thanks to the artificial light the platform provided, one could watch the battle from their seats below.

Wiping his forehead clean of sweat, with a dignified posture, a man in blue, blue hair, a regal cloak and outfit raised his slender sword, a red gem in the middle glowing bright as he swiped to and fro, landing a blow after blow, making it look like an elegant dance as he swung his sword. In the history books of another realm, he is known as the Hero-King. Marth was his name, and using the bright tip of his sword, he knocked his opponent backwards towards the other platform, dusting off his cloak, a few scratches and scorch marks on the fluttering cape.

Sent spiraling through the air, his opponent gripped the flat platform, shaking its head. Sparks flew from its rosy cheeks, two black eyes staring back, a nose and yellow ears twitching restlessly. It appeared as though an untapped energy glowed throughout the animal's body, its fur rising somewhat as it twitched.

"Pika..." It huffed, panting somewhat.

The yellow mouse, Pikachu, stood its ground, eyes sparkling with intensity, cheeks buzzing with energy. It stared back at Marth, who brandished his sword in the air, where, despite the night sky above him, glinted with light. Setting his sword down, Marth began sprinting, aiming his sword to take down the rat. Bristling, Pikachu set its cheeks down to the floor, where a spark of electricity rolled out, crawling across the floor like a snail. The current passed through Marth, staggering him for a split second, who continued pushing forward despite the hair on his head rising ever so slightly. Shaking its head, Pikachu continued setting charges, hoping to keep the swordsman at bay.

It turned out to be a failure, as Marth slashed straight through the electricity, launching Pikachu into the air. The electric rat grit its teeth, spinning back around to face his opponent, back on the side of the stage. Pikachu was hardly a strategist, but an idea was already brewing back at the edges of the mouse's mind.

Pikachu had been a veteran of the fighting tourney for quite a while, along with others like Ness and Luigi. However, Smash was not its only journey into the fields of battle. There were certainly opportunities back in its own world, but it had also partaken in battles in another tournament altogether. There was a certain tournament revolving solely around Pokémon once upon a time. Pikachu had used different moves there, wanting to bring variety to the table.

But with all this talk of variety, there seemed to be a flu of customization passing from Smash fighter to fighter. Around the grapevine, the mouse had come across a blue frog, who spun his own tale of fighting a boy with a bicycle. Specifically, how embarrassing it was that it was practically roadkill. So, by that logic, if everyone else could bring something new to their battles, why not Pikachu?

An idea popped up in Pikachu's head. Grinning, the electric mouse began gaining speed as it dropped out of the sky. Watching carefully, the Hero-King readied his blade, glaring at Pikachu suspiciously. As Pikachu began to get close, Marth thrusted his sword upwards, the air spinning past his sword strike. Unfortunately for him, the air was the only thing he caught. Grunting, he turned around to meet his foe. He was greeted with Pikachu grabbing his face, much to his shock, and getting kicked straight up into the air. Shaking his head, Marth attempted to swipe his sword again, pausing only when he saw the mouse's erratic movements beneath him.

Jagged trails of light resembling lightning bolts followed Pikachu as it sped through the sky, aiming for Marth. Suspended in the air and with his opponent hurtling towards him like an asteroid, all Marth could do was brace for impact, steeling himself for the incoming attack. The mouse raised its paw, aiming to punch, and dashed straight through Marth. Grunting, the swordsman felt like he was punched in the gut by a lance. Pikachu left through the other side with a large fist, flying back to the platform below.

"Aaaaaaaahh!" Marth yelled as he was flung over Prism Tower, vanishing into the night sky as his opponent slammed back onto the platform below.

GAME!

* * *

Back in the celebration area, Pikachu laid on the floor, light streaming down on him, crowning him as the victor amidst a ruin of broken columns.

"Pikachu!" The announcer finished, followed by the clapping on the mouse's swordsman rival.

Just behind Pikachu, Marth congratulated him on a good game, applauding for quite a while, before the both of them were spirited away, leaving the ruins empty behind them.

* * *

Appearing in the lobby with a light encapsulating the two of them, Marth stretched, satisfied with the events of the match. Turning to leave, he almost did not notice the strained grunts behind him. Turning back, he noticed the only other living entity in the room was Pikachu. But something was definitely strange. The mouse struggled, attempting to leave the room, but could not, almost as if it were weighed down by something. Walking over, Marth eyed him curiously.

His face curled up in a mixture of puzzlement and slight disgust at the bizarre appendage size. While Pikachu's finishing move was over and done with, his fist's size was not. Now a masculine hand replaced the mouse's paw, looking like a giant yellow glove curled up to strike someone. It apparently acted as an anchor for poor Pikachu, who just sat there, sighing. Frowning, Marth sheathed his sword by his belt, crouching down by the supercharged rat, who stared at him hopefully. Taking hold of the fist, Marth struggled and grunted, but managed to drag it, slowly but surely. Sighing, Marth shook his head, murmured something in a foreign language, and began hauling Pikachu out of the room, already beginning to sweat from the effort.

* * *

"Now, I don't think we were on that island for an entire day, but it felt like a week." Robin sighed, shaking his head.

By his side, Lucina, her Falchion blade hid in its sheath, listened to each word. "Sounds like a nightmare, but don't you think you've told this too many times now?"

Both Robin and Lucina made their way towards the Smash Brothers lobby, walking past portraits of fighters on a lavish rug. They passed by multiple rooms, labelled from "For Fun" to "For Glory", all packed with a whole bunch of contestants ready to test their might.

Robin sighed, nodding. "I suppose. Wasn't even that traumatic, we had so many hogs-"

He paused, glancing to the side, a noise becoming increasingly apparent. Both he and Lucina noticed the sound of something dragging, and judging by the blue haired swordsman and yellow mouse, they were spot on. They looked on, not sure what to think of Marth dragging along an electric rat. As he passed by, Marth took the time to adjust the headband he wore atop his blue hair, waved politely, and continued on his merry way, with Pikachu uttering a simple but jolly, "Pika!" as they went, ruffling up the carpet somewhat as they dragged along.

Lucina rubbed the back of her neck, sighing. "That was my ancestor."

"Well, I can see where you and Chrom inherited your resolve." Robin smirked, eliciting an eyeroll out of his swords-woman companion.

* * *

After a tedious hour of dragging along, Marth was practically ready to throw in the towel and just let the mouse sit on the sidewalk or something, having finally reached the doors to the outside, only to realize that he was getting almost nowhere. Sighing, he set down Pikachu's sore tail, and stared at the rat. It frowned, poking its enormous hand almost sadly. It felt as though it should have never even tried in the first place. Eventually, sadness overtook the small rat, who buried its face into its overgrown fist, whimpering. Marth sighed, apologizing in his native tongue, patting Pikachu behind the ears. The mouse ceased its whimper, staring back up at the blue swordsman with eyes that resembled pools of caramel. Looking about, he bit his lip, finally giving into the spell, reassuring Pikachu that it would be fine, and walked off, leaving Pikachu to contemplate its life choices that led up to its paw growing ten-feet tall.

* * *

Glancing around, Marth ran about the premises of the Smash tournament's entrance building, looking for any assistance. It was mostly just trimmed hedges and statues placed in symmetrical rows, leading up to a staircase. He sighed, jogging about briskly, an idea hatching in his mind. As he ran, he caught wind of a white coat in the distance, climbing up the steps. Breaking into a sprint, Marth ran up to the man in the coat, shouting to catch his attention.

Turning around, the man in the coat blinked, brushing back his mustache, a stethoscope dangling from his neck. A doctor's head mirror was strapped around his forehead under his brown hair.

This man was Mario, only instead of his regular red and blue overalls and cap, he was a doctor for... Puzzle game reasons.

Mario blinked back at Marth, giving him a curious look. Stopping next to Dr. Mario, Marth began explaining that a yellow rat needed assistance with its fist. A normal doctor would immediately prescribe therapy, but this plumber was no ordinary doctor. Nodding, Dr. Mario followed Marth, who started off, with a strange sense of urgency despite the simplicity of the problem.

* * *

A doctor and a swordsman walk up onto a sidewalk looking for a yellow rat, and what do they find? Much to their confusion, nothing!

Marth's mouth gaped open. Neither head, tail, nor fist of Pikachu could be seen. Behind him, Dr. Mario crossed his arms, giving Marth a look. The Hero-King turned around, raising a finger as if to say something, but not before hearing an ever familiar, "Pika!". Both of them shot stares in the direction it had come from, their eyes popping open upon noticing there was something awry. They began jogging down the sidewalk of the strange realm, eventually finding out where Pikachu was. It was falling.

The sidewalk, while mostly sparse of passerby aside from excited spectators that hail from who knows where, had a new attraction. The sidewalk had dipped into a decline, and while it was not steep, that combined with gravity was enough to send Pikachu and his fist rolling down, the mouse yelping as it fell. The two heros looked on in horror, glancing at each other. Suddenly, they both nodded, and began dashing down the asphalt covered hill. After all, you cannot cure something that is rolling around at the speed of sound.

Walking about the sidewalk, a blue hedgehog wearing red sneakers glanced up at the sky with a frown, then instinctively hit the deck as Pikachu rolled by.

"Whoa." The hedgehog blinked, feeling the need to applaud as he watched Pikachu roll down, with both Marth and Mario chasing after the out-of-control mouse.

The mouse spinning rapidly practically bowled over anyone brave enough to roam the sidewalk. People resembling mushrooms were squashed, others were knocked out of the way. An unlucky Mii walking about was smacked to the side by the enlarged fist, crashing into a storefront. All the while, Marth and Mario dodged the carnage, ducking and diving as civilians flew overhead. As they ran, they noticed that there was a problem ahead. Mainly that they were running out of ground.

A pier, a wooden platform rising out of the sea hosting a whole bunch of ships carrying passengers excited to visit the Smash tournament laid ahead. Problem was, there was nothing keeping Pikachu at bay, so it was free to dash forward, and drop into the water. Having an innocent mouse sink to the bottom of the ocean was definitely not something Marth wanted on his conscience, so he pushed forward, the idea of more bystanders getting crushed just as bad. Running faster and faster, he held his hand on his sword, with barely an inkling of an idea in his head. Nevertheless, if he wanted to stop this once and for all, he would need to do something.

Despite Pikachu's tumble, the flat ground ahead managed to slow his roll down, just barely enough for Marth to get ahead. Onlookers leaving the ship and entering the dock glanced on in sheer terror as Pikachu appeared to launch in with a punch ready. In reality, Pikachu had just tripped over a thin opening in the sidewalk, and the momentum had launched it into the air. Luckily for everyone involved, it seemed that they would all live another day. Stopping in front of the pier, Marth readied his sword, holding his ground with a glint by the sheath.

As it appeared Pikachu collided with Marth, all that triggered was the Hero-King's counter. Swiping his sword up, he nullified Pikachu's accidental attack, spinning him around in the air, when he finally hit the ground, eyes rolling around dizzily. Sighing, Marth sheathed his blade, the cheers of the bystanders erupting in the background, despite the many others in the background looking completely knocked out or flattened. Passing by a sentient mushroom with a vest, or a Toad, the doctor gazed at the fist, frowning. The blue swordsman gave him a look, to which Dr. Mario began thinking, staring at the downed mouse with his gloved hand on his chin…

* * *

Sitting besides an operating table, Marth stared as Dr. Mario began the procedure, staring down at Pikachu's hand, sweat illuminated on his face by a lamp above them. Marth was on the edge of his seat, staring intently at the operation. Pikachu laid down on the counter, shivering somewhat. With a reassuring word or two from Marth, Pikachu nodded, and closed his eyes. Reaching behind him, Dr. Mario pulled out a menacing instrument, glaring down at Pikachu, the beads of sweat intensifying as he reached up into the sky, shoving it down. Marth's eyes expanded.

Mario shook a pill container open, the lid popping off, yellow colored pills dropping into the oversized hand. As they dropped into the fist's grip, Dr. Mario set down the pill bottle and dusted his hands off. The procedure now done, he wiped his forehead clean of sweat, only bewildering Marth more.

"That was all you needed to do?!" Marth asked in a language that under normal circumstances might need a translator.

Dr. Mario shrugged, taking off his doctor's mirror, placing a red cap with a large "M" on his noggin. "It's-a finished. We just gotta wait for the swelling to go down."

The two stared at Pikachu's fist. Already, it seemed as though it were shrinking right before their eyes. Gawking at the fist incredulously, Marth sighed, shaking his head.

"Medicine is absolutely astounding. I doubt I will ever fully understand how healers are able to perform such miracles." The Hero-King spoke, staring at the recovering mouse.

Mario grinned. "All's well a end's well, right?"

* * *

Unbeknownst to the three, there were now at least a dozen people stuck in a hospital somewhere, slowly being rolled out and pumped with air to restore three-dimensional status to the flattened patients.

* * *

AN: If anyone's played Pokkén Tournament and used Pikachu's Burst Attack, then you'll get this chapter immediately. I thought it was funny that his fist would enlarge and automatically shrink for the sake of an attack, but would it work as well in Smash as soon as the game ends? Well, that's what inspired this chapter.

Also, I kinda wanted to avoid having Marth talk too much considering most of the time, he speaks in Japanese. And I don't wanna get accused of being someone who gets Japanese wrong if I use Google Translate or something, no siree.

Thanks XShinkuKikinX for reviewing! Yes, I suppose Duck Hunt isn't exactly the most fun to play against all the time. Thanks for your suggestion, I actually haven't played Twilight Princess yet, but I'll see what I can do if I ever get around to it.

Thanks for reading, this is ThePizzaLovingTurtle, off to finish The Shower Room in Pikmin 2, see you.


	12. Fire, Wind, Water, and Shells

**Super Smash Bros. For Wii U and 3DS: The Glory of Custom Moves**

 **Fire, Wind, Water, and Blue Shells**

In nature, there is a balance. A balance between the elements which build up the very world. It may vary from place to place, to be sure. Not one world has the exact same requirements for life.

But in Smash, those invited generally have the grandest of tales to tell. Wondrous quests, adventures to be had, battles to be fought. Many, many Smash Brothers experienced quite the journeys, aside from a select few, such as the laid-back Villager who had to serve as a mayor or the Duck Hunt Duo's act of blasting down ducks or flying away, respectively. However, out of all them, none shone brighter in the limelight than one of the greatest heroes of the century. Many know him far and wide for being one of the greatest there is, or at least one so close. The name that many people can recognize, from his mustache to his red cap.

The one, the only, the Great Gonzales!

...Also known as Mario.

Alas, while he had incredible adventures, the plumber in red, and a wide array of career choices, might I add, he was rather burnt out, so to speak. Sitting down in the middle of a great grassy plain, blocks floating in the air, green pipes erected from the dirt, he sat down, sighing. Mario wiped his brow, staring into the sky, reminiscing all the while. It had been the same old story, same old song and dance for the dear old plumber. Bowser kidnaps princess, Mario saves princess. Sometimes it was mixed up to provide somewhat of a twist, but generally his adventures started and ended the same.

So he sat, gloved hands on his cheeks, waiting for a new opportunity. It was certainly quite the honor to be such the popular idol, to be sure. Unfortunately, with every passing day being famous, Mario has had his fair share of bumps in his normally smooth road. He seldom partook in the following, nor did he actually speak up about them, but a few of the admiring fans of his that find him to be stellar have created some… Troubling creations to damage his reputation.

For one, there were a handful of art drawn he had stumbled across depicting him in rather… Unnerving ways which he would not bring up. Another issue he had stumbled upon was assumptions made. He was not sure whether or not Bowser had spawned rumors or not, which he was almost certain of, but creative minds had once debated on his sanity levels. Being a red clad plumber in a colorful world full of mushrooms attempting to save the princess was not an entirely agreeable career choice, unfortunately. But the final nail in the coffin was that some people wrote stories about him, depicting him like a lunatic who sat down, thinking about himself in the third person.

Frowning, Mario glanced up at the sky, shaking his head.

Oh. Right. Well, regardless, it was true and taxing to the dear plumber, who was just about tired out. Despite the grind of jumping up and down constantly, he did rather hold his old adventures quite fondly. Smiling, he thought back to a time, a simpler time when the old formula was not as old.

As he did so, something rustled in the bushes ahead of him. Sitting next to a pipe behind the bushes, a Koopa peaked his head out of his blue shell, frowning. Standing right by the turtle trooper was a brown mushroom of sorts, angry eyebrows tilted above his head, fangs popping out of a curved line below that was his mouth. The mushroom yawned, staring at the Koopa.

"What are we doing?" He asked, arching one of his huge eyebrows.

The Koopa turned over towards the mushroom. "Isn't it obvious? Look, plumber RIGHT there. Pretty obvious."

"...We're going to beat him-"

"We're going to beat him up, exactly." The Koopa shrugged, staring down at the mushroom, "Dude, we've been doing this for years, by now I would've thought-"

"I'm a Goomba." The mushroom sighed, shaking its head.

The Koopa Troopa frowned, crossing his arms. "Yeah, so?"

Leaning on the side of the pipe suddenly, the Goomba stared at the ground in a rather melancholic. "Like you said, we've been doing this for years, and what do we have to show for it? I and countless other mushrooms have walked this same road, and have been squashed."

Blinking, the Koopa stared down at his forlorn companion, giving him the most reassuring smile he could manage. "Hey, we're not going down THAT road. Trust me, this time will be different."

Looking back up, the Goomba's eyes began to grow brighter, perhaps a sign that he had hope in the other soldier.

"Because I have a blue shell." The Koopa grinned.

The Goomba's eyes reverted back to its grumpy demeanor. Already, the Koopa began setting off, hopping out of the bushes, chuckling to himself. Cracking his soft reptile knuckles, he marched over to the unsuspecting Mario, who appeared to be moping to himself, lost in thought. Sneaking up by the side, the turtle raised his fist, grinning all the while.

All of the sudden, Mario's eyes lit up. Hollering out in glee, he leaped up straight into the air. Before the Koopa had a chance to react, Mario unknowingly landed on top of him with his feet. The pure shock sent him spiraling out of his shell, sliding back towards whence he came, leaving the Koopa in a simple white t-shirt, devoid of any shell. Just having barely heard the noise, the high-flying man with an "M" glanced around in bewilderment, eyes narrowing suspiciously. Attempting to walk forward, he stumbled over the blue shell the Koopa had on previously, turning towards it, blinking.

Now, originally, Mario had a grand idea for something new and unique. But seeing the blue shell made him forget for a moment, and a new idea hatched in his mind. Taking the shell, he positioned it so that one of the holes was right above his head. Letting it go, it plopped down onto him, covering his overalls. Glancing down, he hit the shell with his fist as to test its durability, grinning.

Back at the Warp Pipe, the dizzy reptilian soldier got up to his feet while his fungus friend rolled his eyes by the pipe.

"What happened?" The Koopa groaned, hand on his head, "That shell was supposed to be invincible."

"...Okay, first of all, you aren't the first to use blue shells. Remember Dinosaur Land?" The Goomba spoke up.

Frowning, the Koopa crossed his arms. "How would you know? You weren't there."

The Goomba would have shrugged had it any arms. "Look, that's not the point. What is the point is that HOLY BLOOP."

Tilting his head questionably, he turned around. Eyes opening wide, he noticed that his shell was spinning right back at him. Simultaneously, the two henchmen characters stood up and watched. From within the shell, an arm suddenly popped out, waving a familiar red hat as it spun away to who knows where.

All of a sudden, as the Goomba glared at his Koopa companion, he noticed that the turtle was smirking mischievously, to which he asked, "What?"

"Look at that. Blue shell saved our lives." The Koopa gestured towards the object hurtling away, the mushroom man just shaking his head with a sigh.

While the Koopa may have lost his ninety coin deposit on a quality shell, Mario was ready and raring to go, heading off to lands unknown, ready to brawl.

"Oh, shoot!" The Koopa gasped in surprise, already running off to catch up with him while the other minion just sighed, shaking his head by the pipe as he leaned back, watching the Koopa Troopa leave him in the dust.

* * *

For the most part, the Mushroom Kingdom is a place of prosperity and color in all shapes and sizes, from the grass to the sky, the lands were painted with a palette of vibrancy. At least in the canonical sense.

The actual Mushroom Kingdom Mario now entered for his brawl was much more...dusty and brown all over. Instead of plains of grass or great green hills, the entirety of the stage which resembled one of Mario's past adventures was extremely sandy and dull looking. The breeze carried dust about, and the blocks and pipes looked practically feeble to the point where if one were to even smack it, the materials would crumble at the seams, so to speak.

Nevertheless, Mario stood at the left side of the flat platform of dusty blocks rising out of the abyss below, which screamed, "Avoid at all costs!" to the plumber. With the blue shell firmly attached to his abdomen, he awaited his opponent patiently. As he did so, in the background, hidden behind a sand-washed brick castle peering back at him was the Koopa whose shell was stolen, covering his eyes with his t-shirt to prevent the wind from blasting his irises with sand.

"There you are." The Koopa said between sneezes, starting to wipe his turtle beak with the back of his hand, "Darn plumber. Wait until I get my hands on you."

Already the Koopa Troopa began marching out behind his cover, the turtle slowly advancing on the plateau of bricks Mario stood upon. As he began creeping up on him in the background Mario tensed up as he watched the other side of the stage. Out of the corner of his eyes, he could just barely make out a red and white sphere being launched upon the ground before a light overtook his eyes, blinding him for a brief instant. The turtle trooper in the distance noticed as well, covering his eyes with his hands out of surprise. The two, after a second, stopped covering their eyes, staring in awe at Mario's opponent. Quickly, the Koopa began taking shelter behind the castle once more, quickly sprinting back without time to spare as if he wanted to spare himself any pain caused by the fight itself.

As the light faded, the monstrous form of the enemy revealed itself, growing large in stature. Two wings, a long tail, claws on its arms and feet, and a long snout that snorted smoke, stubby horns just above its eyes, all with a bright orange sheen. The dragon that revealed itself began to roar up into the sky, embers shooting out of its great maw. Yet again, another Pokémon took the stage in the Super Smash Bros. match, this one being the Fire-Flying type Charizard who took up the most ferocious stance it could muster, seemingly smirking back at its red clad opponent.

Narrowing his eyes, Mario readied the palm of his hands, a fire brewing in the gloves as well. However, the plumber's stance was considerably less intimidating when taking his bulky blue shell into account. Yet, the sight of the shell seemed to make the great dragon somewhat...nostalgic as it stared at its opponent. The two of them glared at each other across the great dust bowl of a stage with the intent to fight to the finish, as a forgotten Koopa stared back at the two in awe.

The ever familiar announcer voice intruded yet again sounding off in the background, already beginning to unnerve the turtle beyond its wits. "Three! Two! One! Go!"

As if they were two athletes on the track and the announcer were the gunshot by the starting line, both of them charged towards one another. Dashing across the blocks beneath him with the dragon's crimson breath not on Mario's agenda, he suddenly stopped sprinting and shifted into a slide, promptly causing the Pokémon to halt and defend itself, the plumber bashing into its shield harmlessly, a quick thinking Charizard using its sharp nails to slash and tear at the Jumpman. Luckily for the hero in red, all the damage caused by the slashing only left a few scratches on the shell he wore, much to the chagrin of the onlooker in the distance who agonizingly watched as his precious item was damaged.

While it was unfortunate that he may have to pay extra for repairs, the Koopa eagerly watched the fight in his single white t-shirt and blue boots, arms pumped up just as much as he was as he observed. Now, while there was no Koopa King to speak of fighting the good fight after an exhausted Mario trekked through eight worlds, this Charizard that he was battling was quite the contender with his gnashing. The icing on top of the cake for the Koopa was the flames. Quite similar to Bowser, as Mario flipped back into the air acrobatically to avoid a physical attack, Charizard would spout flames at a tremendous rate. It was heartbreaking to see his shell get scorched even more so throughout the fight, but if this dragon were to destroy the plumber, perhaps he could get it back without paying a lifetime's supply of coins.

That thought now purely embedded into his mind throughout the entire melee exchange, he cheered on silently for the orange reptile that flew on its great wings. The outcome of the fight was ambiguous, but the current results certainly seemed as though it were a one-sided bout. Whenever Mario would guard he would protect himself using the comforts of the new shell he had "found", nearly absorbing the damage of any and all attacks. Except for one little problem. Each blow he took knocked him back, he felt, leagues away from Charizard each time he was even smacked. Whether it was the dragon's tail whipping into the side, Charizard rolling out through the air to crush the plumber or even dragging the shell up from the ground into the air to deliver a toss of seismic proportions, Mario would escape almost unscathed, with only the issue of trying not to fall off and explode in a untimely demise.

As he spun for the umpteenth time today after an attack, he halted by putting his feet down just inches away from spiraling off the edge, revealing his bulbous nose and mustached face as he popped out of the shell dizzily. Shaking his head to relieve the daze, he glared towards Charizard, who simply smirked back once again. He would be sure to wipe that cocky expression of the opponent's face for sure. Fire brewing in his left hand, he poised himself to shoot, and shoot he did. A ball of fire bounced out of his hand, then another and another in succession. The dragon grimaced as it noticed the small spheres of flame roll towards him slowly. Rolling its eyes, Charizard built up power in its throat, then from a standing position, spewed crimson.

The constant stream of fire practically wiped out the small orbs in an instant. Gritting his teeth, it appeared as though Mario would not be able to win by pitting fire against fire in this battle. However, perhaps a healthy dose of water could douse the tension in the match.

The plumber quickly sneaked a disapproving glance at the sky, frowning somewhat.

But with all those jokes aside, it did indeed seem like a pleasing idea. Mario had just the tool for the job; reaching at the back of the shell he prepared himself, ready to use his trusty F.L-

He gripped at the air. For a moment, Mario was confused. The contraption he attempted to use was nowhere to be seen. But from within the shell, Mario could just barely hear something malfunctioning. Groaning, he realized that the shell prevented him from using his device, water having been out of the option. Deciding against that, he watched as the Charizard charged towards him with intent to kill. There was perhaps another way he could solve this issue. Similar to a bullfighter against a large beast, Mario reached for his cape-

Promptly smacking his face with the palm of his hand when he realized he could not take the cape out either.

With lack of any better option, the plumber was smacked backwards by Charizard who slammed into him at a dizzying speed. Launched once again by another one of his attacks, the red crusader Mario felt himself fall over the side of the stage, watching as the world spun about. Reaching out with a white glove, he gripped the side of the stage, and now found himself hanging precariously from the edge. While on the ledge, he frowned, shaking his head. All this shell seemed to do was provide a hindrance to him so far. Each and every time he was knocked back, which was quite often, it left him without much opportunities to retaliate. Climbing back up on the stage as well as kicking just as he ascended, he knocked the dragon back. While his move-set was smaller with this hindrance on his back, he still had one ace up his sleeve.

Peering at Charizard as he landed back on the stage from the blow, he readied himself, retreating back into the shell like an actual turtle. From the safety of the defenses of the small blue object, he started watching carefully as Charizard roared once again and began flying straight towards the plumber within the shell. Gritting his teeth, he began to shift in his spot. As the dragon approached, it barely noticed the motions. Soon, however, it was apparent that there was indeed movement coming from the azure bowl. It began spinning about in place rapidly underneath Charizard. All of a sudden, a flash of realization came to Charizard. Pausing on the ground, putting its guard up, it barely avoided the attack Mario launched.

The wind wrapping around the shell deflected dirt in all directions and fired itself towards the orange dragon. While Charizard managed to shield itself, the shell showed no signs of stopping, grinding against his guard nonstop. Eventually the Pokémon began to tire out of its blocking charade. Just about as it began to give up, it suddenly found itself being flung itself into the air after hearing the sound of glass shattering. Launched up into the air, it looked around in bewilderment, the Koopa in the background gasping in awe as it saw the fighter he rooted for flung up into the sky. Slamming back onto the floor, the Charizard got up to its feet slowly, only for dizziness to take over the dragon's mind.

Its shield now broken, Mario stopped spinning for a second, the shell grinding to a halt. All of a sudden, he ejected himself from the shell, carrying the blue object by his gloved hand as he was spat out onto the landscape, gripping the shell like a weapon. Reaching back as if he were an expert baseball pitcher, (which he literally was in some cases) he flung the shell through the air towards the Fire-Flying type. Before managing to shake itself from its daze, the dragon grunted as the shell smacked into its chest, launching it far off the stage, just barely avoiding getting knocked out by righting itself midair, the dragon attempting to flap back, groaning somewhat. As its wings appeared to give out from fatigue, with the air backing it up despite Charizard's descent, the dragon attempted one more time to leap up into the air.

Charizard used Fly!

Spiraling upwards, it could almost grip that ledge to prevent itself from plummeting. Reaching a claw out, it could almost feel the rickety old block in the palm of its scaly hands.

Mario used Water Gun!

But Charizard missed the ledge, gripping nothing but air. Looking above the edge of the stage, it noticed that Mario had a machine now attached to his back, the shell discarded to the side, water chugging from within the machine as it spewed fluids to keep the dragon at bay, until it seemed as though the supply was dry. It was enough to knock the dragon away, much to its dismay. As Charizard began falling, it could not help but feel even more nostalgic. Turtle shells and water…It was familiar, and despite the fact that it was now falling into the depths of the unknown, about to explode, the dragon sighed in its own way in remembrance of something.

It's super effective.

Mario watched as a pillar of light exploded into existence. Standing back up straight, he stretched, giving his device a pat on the back, which to that extent, also counted as patting himself on the back. With that fight over, Mario disappeared suddenly with nothing but a flash of light yet again, the only thing left being a blue shell on the stage.

"Ha! Finally!"

While his newfound idol had lost the battle, now the Koopa was free to travel onstage to retrieve his perfect, invincible shell. Sprinting out from behind the castle, he began to run for the shell, the only thing left in his way being a pit between the foreground and the back. But happiness and frugality was more than enough to convince himself that there was nothing at all that could stand between him and his glorious shell. Leaping up into the air almost as gleefully as Mario, he landed on the other side on the platform where battle had once took place, scorch marks surrounding the field.

Now finally back in action, the Koopa began lifting the shell above his head, glee surrounding his face as he dropped it back on himself. "Who knew this shell could be so durable?!"

It promptly smashed into pieces. For a moment, the Koopa stood there completely still, eyes twitching, and feet shaking. The winds of the north, south, east and west were more than gladly to sweep up the mess, taking the fragments of the shell with them, flowing away.

The Koopa fell on its side, rigid as a statue as somewhere else, a dragon was clapping for a plumber.

* * *

AN: And that's how I got my name. ...Oops, wrong story.

Thanks XShinkuKikinX for reviewing. Gotta admit, while I'm glad I succeeded in not offending anyone, now I'm just sad that's what the world thinks of the country. But I have no idea how politics work, so I suppose I'll just leave myself out of that. I'm glad you liked the idea of a Pokkén Tournament Pikachu, too. Had a lot of fun writing that.

Thanks for reading, this is ThePizzaLovingTurtle, see you.


	13. Say, Freeze!

**Suggested by red fiend, and in honor of Metroid's recent anniversary.**

 **Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS: The Glory of Custom Moves**

 **Say, "Freeze"!**

There is a name whispered among the stars. Within the wide expanses of space, this name is spoken in many different tongues on many different planets. The name, whispered in awe and quivering nervousness by many, who look towards the stars as if expecting the bearer to come down and slay them on the spot.

The name in question being the one and only Samus Aran, bounty hunter extraordinaire.

Who was petting a yellow mouse at this moment.

She sat on the stair-steps of the Smash institution, or whatever the mysterious, heavily headcanon-based building leading to the world of fighting, sitting in the shade of one of the many trimmed hedges lining the path leading upwards. Clad in armor that could only be described as high tech, she hefted around a large iron suit displaying the sheen of the colors red and orange, thin green lines beaming brightly as they traveled about the exterior. Using one arm, she pet Pikachu as it laid down on her legs, ears twitching in the wind, and arm at normal size. Her other arm, if you could count an emerald cannon blaster an arm, laid dormant as she pet the mouse, no doubt used to blast enemies with.

Next to the cannon on the step she sat on was a helmet, with one large "T" shaped visor built into it, two cords running through an exhaust port on the front. As her helmet laid dormant, blonde hair streamed out, restricted only by a small blue rubber band, the golden locks drifting in the breeze. Azure eyes watched as she gently caressed the mouse's fur, which slept peacefully despite the glaring cannon positioned by its head. As she rubbed the long ears of Pikachu, she frowned, staring up at the azure sky.

Now, generally, it was a pretty decent responsibility destroying rampant aliens with her array of weapons. Venturing through space, destroying planets occasionally and on accident, etcetera and etcetera. However, Samus felt rather...Unappreciated, lately. A few days had passed by, and among them was a day of great excitement. The anniversary of the day she had set foot on Planet Zebes on a mission had passed by, and she for one could not feel any more proud of her accomplishments thus far. Years and years of bravery and heart went into her craft, and she had felt as though she certainly deserved it. As cold and calculated as she knew she was known for, could it hurt to wish for a little positive acknowledgement once in awhile?

But for some reason, hardly anyone seemed to remember around her! It was a mystery. I mean, she herself would always get the occasional letter from fans of her work, much to her surprise considering she was constantly on the move. She was also respected as one of the veterans of Smash, responsible for helping kick-start the tournaments into existence despite her normally ranged style of fighting in a competition of fists and swords. Of course, technically her normal work was not exactly something she should parade about, but still, with her rising popularity, it would be expected to be appreciated, right?

Well unfortunately, she had not been offered to fight in a full scale adventure for quite a while. Five years since her last debut in a space venturing, gun rattling adventure, and even the last one had netted her criticism. Funnily enough, it was not that of violence or her methods used to save the galaxy, but that of her situation. Being restricted back then from using weapons and her briefings, which was somehow leaked to the public, shrouded her in an awkward period where even during her days in the Smash tournament, she would catch a disappointed tone here and there from spectators.

Nevertheless, her anniversary had passed, and she had not done anything too spectacular. For the most part, the highlight of her day was petting the Pokémon she had on her lap and a few battles here and there, but aside from that, she could not do much. Even so, that could change if she willed it. Staring at the sky, she thought back to the days of old, where as a bounty hunter, she ventured through countless alien planets, exploring desolate landscapes, finding mystical suit upgrades…

All of a sudden, Samus raised her gun arm, still petting the Pikachu on her lap, pursing her lips. The top of the barrel rotated for a moment as she aimed the weapon skywards, humming to herself. Through the corner of her eyes, she could see feathers. Flapping above them, a bizarre, purple colored duck, quacking and flying in a diagonal, aimless flight pattern, befitting of a target carried itself above them. Smirking, Samus slowly stopped petting Pikachu, the mouse now thoroughly asleep, taking her helmet by the edge. Raising the helmet above her head, she slowly placed it on, adjusting it until she heard a clicking noise and the sound of air hissing.

Still sitting down, making sure to keep the mouse steady, she aimed towards the carefree duck who continued quacking. For a moment, she hesitated, the fact was that even if the duck was just a silly bird, it was still technically a fellow Smasher. Shooting and killing it would probably be problematic. Twisting the Power Suit cannon somewhat, she aimed once more towards the sky where the avian Smash contestant was in sight, and fired. As the gun popped back somewhat due to recoil, a beam of light blue swirled through the sky towards the duck. Finally reaching the animal, it dissipated on impact.

However, that would not mean the duck would get away scot free. Quacking in fright, the duck attempted flapping away quickly. Strangely, it felt its wings grow heavier and more sluggish to move until it was almost impossible to move at all. Eyes growing wide, it spiraled down to the earth below, the wind whistling around it, wrapping him in a chill. That and the fact that the duck was encased in ice was also probably an issue. Plummeting to the ground, it closed its eyes, fully believing this was the end.

Then it was caught. Eyes opening wide once more, it struggled as its unfrozen neck was held by Samus's free left hand. Swallowing nervously, the duck attempted to squawk or somehow liberate itself from its icy prison. Despite the avian's obvious discomfort, Samus smiled from inside her helmet, hoisting it high in the air in a bit of a victory pose. The duck now understood what happened. Quacking, its eyes began rolling with a frown, the frigid water melting off of it. Letting the duck go, it flapped away in annoyance, quacking something about a rude metal woman in its own duck language.

Smiling, it seemed as though Samus had something she could do. Glancing towards the Pikachu sitting on her lap, she took hold of its tail carefully. The mouse still slept peacefully, its round body rising up and down with each breath. Slowly but surely, she lifted the Pokémon up by its brown tail tip. It continued to snooze despite dangling in the air. Carefully, she placed it down on the stair step she sat on, making sure it was still sleeping. Watching as it laid there, snoring softly, she began walking off towards the Smash building. All the way, she tinkered within the confines of her suit right before she hit the door, entering the spot with a jolly plan on her mind.

Outside, a certain dog sniffed around in frustration, seemingly looking for someone. The Duck Hunt dog's muzzle stuck to the floor like glue as it searched the pavement, weaving around a fountain and many hedges, up and down stairs. Eventually, it seemed as though the solitary dog was about ready to throw in the towel. Sitting down by a step, it howled morosely.

Then was shocked as he felt a jolt of electricity ran up its body from a Pikachu awoken from its peaceful nap.

* * *

After a rather plain waiting room session, Samus was transported to a stage somewhere in the many universes the tournament took place in. Staring out from within the helmet's visor, she slowly gathered her bearings. She was used to extreme environments, frigid colds, blistering heat, and claustrophobic caverns. Now, if she glanced at the stage she stood on during night, perhaps it would look somewhat menacing. A larger mirror could serve as a dramatic backdrop. The large mat below could provide a slip up in the enemy's defense. Finally, the white, moving board in the background could serve as a constant reminder that there was something awaiting them...

But in the day, the Wii Fit Studio was anything but menacing. Unless one is really unfit. Stretching her cannon arm, she stepped about the stage. For once, there was not a bottomless pit in sight that threatened to send a Smasher to their doom. The stage was completely flat, aside from a few floating platforms that would occasionally join alongside a virtual trainer in the background. Frowning to herself, she glanced around for her opponent among the white, clean kept studio.

A thump sound emerged from the other side of the room. A few more thumps, like that of large footsteps thundered after them. Turning around, Samus cocked her arm cannon and glared at the enemy. Her visor blinked with information hidden from her foe. Brown fur. A large, muscular frame. Two very large eyes. A red tie. Finally, the cherry on top:

The stench of bananas.

A brown ape with a red, straight tie dangling from its neck with the initials, "DK" boldly place on the front entered the match. A curly wisp of hair dangled above his head and face as the primate stared back with a grunt. All of a sudden, the gorilla started hooting with fury, raising its massive fists. It proceeded to beat on its chest with a fervor, the sound echoing throughout the building. Samus' glare hardened in recognition. As ferocious as it looked, that was not just a random animal that may have escaped from the zoo.

Donkey Kong was another veteran that Samus and the others have come to known as a worthy opponent. ...That was it really. He's a pretty cool kong whose coconut gun can fire in spurts. But in Smash he does not have a gun.

Frowning, Donkey Kong glanced up at the ceiling of the studio, rolling his eyes.

Well, even if he was a simple animal leading a simple life, while simultaneously being obsessed with yellow fruit, he was definitely a threat to be reckoned with. He may not have had any special abilities other than physical combat at the moment, but he was ready and raring to go. Slapping the ground rapidly, Donkey Kong readied its fists, ready for a scuffle. She glared back at him; Samus kneeled down and readied her cannon to aim across the room.

"Three! Two! One!" Chimed in the announcer, pervading through the boundaries of time and space with his voice, starting the match with a shout, "Go!"

Charging over towards Donkey Kong with her cannon, Samus slowly took aim, raising her **cannon** arm towards the brown ape, ready to shoot the primate with her **CANNON** as she dashed towards the enemy, and tackled Donkey Kong with her right shoulder. The impact from the tackle knocked the brown ape back somewhat, sending him into the air. As he flew up to the ceiling, wide-eyed from the blow, he shook his head, frowning as he began to slowly plummet back down.

Readying her gun limb, she actually aimed seriously this time, lining up the emerald barrel as he came crashing down. A whirring noise sounded off as it built up pressure slowly and steadily, until a stream of cyan launched out of the barrel. The beam launched out blasted the Kong, eventually covering him from head to toe in ice as the effects travelled over his body. His eyes went wide as he halted mid air, completely encased. Falling back towards the floor, it smacked into one of the platforms on the way down, muffled "Oofs!" coming from the ice as he smashed into each solid object. Finally reaching the bottom, the ice eventually shattered into pieces, leaving a disorientated gorilla dazed on the floor, surrounded by chunks of ice.

For a moment, Samus felt rather good. While her glory days were in the past and her adventures in the future was uncertain, beating up another Smasher was great. It was akin to her alien blasting days, spending her time in dank, claustrophobic corridors that were more often than not filled with murderous creatures. Ah, yes…

Her memories were a weakness to be exploited, however, as Donkey Kong was already coming back in a big way, bashing her upside the head with a well timed headbutt. The whack from his noggin certainly took Samus off guard, resulting in the bounty hunter getting semi-buried in the floor, a crater of dirt forming beneath her feet despite the pristine condition of the white tiles below.

As she was punted into the ground, a voice called from the sidelines saying, "Now, return to your original position."

Return she did indeed, climbing out of the small hole, shaking her helmet head as if to cure her daze. Once the fog in her head cleared almost instantaneously, her thin features eyebrows cocked irritably, as did her cannon. She fired round after round of the chilling beams, each one momentarily stopping the massive ape. Each time he was froze, Donkey Kong would make a face, whether it be from discomfort, annoyance, or plain boredom each time multiple shots rang out, he was not having the time of his life in the multiple blocks of ice.

Eventually, Samus stopped blasting him with ice. The repetitive condensed bullets of ice did nothing more than slow him down. Ice slid out of the way as Donkey Kong charged forward towards the space bounty hunter, the ape smirking somewhat. Rolling up into a ball, the momentum still pushing him forward, he practically bowled over her, knocking her back, off of the rug stationed on the ground below onto the clean white floors. Sliding back, she decided to broaden her approach. Instead of constantly firing Ice Beams, the chamber of the cannon rumbled and rotated. Emerging from the gun, a couple of missiles from two varieties; slick and violet as well as green and bulky missile launched out of her arm cannon. Spiralling towards Donkey Kong standing across from her, on impact, they exploded on contact, black plumes of smoke covering the ape. For a moment, she blinked, glaring at the shroud carefully.

The small wisps of smoke disappeared almost instantaneously as a fist collided with Samus' helmet, knocking her back a considerable distance, warning sirens lighting up her vision. Her Power Suit was strong, but even its ingenious design and defense could not prevent the barrage of punches that she endured. As she rolled away from the boundary of the stage, she was pelted over and over again with headbutts, kicks, and slaps, all of the sort knocking her around the stage silly. Amidst the chaotic rampage, her suit slowly and slowly curled up into a ball. Eventually each time she was slammed into the floor, she would rebound or remain on the ground, albeit rolling. Now resembling an orange, red and green soccer ball, she rolled away, cursing under her breath.

Beating on his chest, Donkey Kong cheered for himself, assured that a victory was imminent. In response, Samus grunted, raising her weapon once more, firing a solitary missile towards the unknowing Kong, getting up to her feet. While the missile floated dangerously close to the near oblivious ape, she began picking up her feet, rapidly jogging in place. A fervor came to Samus, that of intense energy being built up all over her suit, most prevalent in her calves. Her steps began picking up speed, eventually the rapid jogging in place kicked up steam and began resembling a jackhammer.

When the missile finally collided with Donkey Kong, his eyes opened wide in surprise as he was blasted up a short distance into the air. More smoke emerged from the destructive remnants of the explosive bullet. The minute Donkey Kong touched the ground yet again, he grunted in his own language, smoke puffing out of his nostrils. Dashing towards the smoke, he raised his fist and leapt out, his tie brushing past the smoke, and his face popping out with a furious mien.

The next moments for Donkey Kong were that of a sort of mixture. Leaving the fog, his hardened gaze slowly shifted into a more bewildered gawk. His mid air posture wavered slightly as his tie flapped. The bounty hunter across from him was glowing red and speeding towards him. Sightseeing around the various realms clustered about, Donkey Kong could make the argument that it was similar to a bullet train speeding towards him. Now, as brutish as he was, he knew a problem when he saw it. Staring opposite to the mirror in the background, he frowned, slowly waving to someone who may or may not have been there.

The resulting tackle that Donkey Kong felt launched him off into distance, where he exploded in a flash of light as Samus continually sprinted with the force of a speeding vehicle.

"Game!"

* * *

Reemerging in a deserted ruins with a spotlight shining from the heavens, Donkey Kong began clapping reluctantly, mainly because he was obligated to do so, as even apes were not exempt from the rules. Frowning once again, he looked around, scratching his head. For a moment, he saw no one else there. Did Samus leave without being congratulated?

All of a sudden, he could hear a collection of thunderous footsteps. Glaring in the distance with one hand shading his eyes over his face, he could just barely make out a suit of armor, arms and legs flailing in an orderly, yet deadly fashion as Samus sprinted towards the ape. Squinting his eyes, Donkey Kong caught something like a glimpse of flames following Samus around. In his primate mind, he slowly put two and two together. The sprinting motions, the trail of fire following her feet, it was obvious really. Just obvious enough that when she quickly neared the gorilla, said gorilla's eyes popped open in realization. Leaping to the side, he just barely missed getting tackled yet again.

* * *

Shaking his head, the ape groaned, looking to the side. Optical sensors expanding yet again, he gawked at the last place Samus had been beforehand. Where the trail of fire finally ended, there was a crater of soot. He walked over slowly towards the remains of where Samus had once stood, he took one of his fingers and wiped a straight line through the dust. He was not sure what to do. Wiping it off on the ground, he began muttering something respectful in a Donkey Kong language, deciding to walk away and forget that ever happened.

Samus on the other hand, was having a bit of trouble controlling the speed. Her Speed Booster upgrade she had tinkered with from a while back was reliable, but she was beginning to think it was too reliable. Her feet would not let up in their frenzy to move forward, and the new aspect of fire behind her was worrying.

The fact that she had teleported may have also been another issue.

After a brief warning flashed up on her screen, she momentarily lost consciousness throughout her sprint. She was not sure how long she was out, or if her Power Suit continued running as she was knocked out. But what she was sure of was her current location. While unsure of its authenticity, it could be a dream for all she knew, Samus could recognize her surroundings. She blinked, thoroughly surprised at the similarities. Stalactites and stalagmites littered the ceiling and floors of the rocky caverns she found herself in. Stars flashed out in the sky from the hole in the ceiling. She could hear the vague sound of scuttling and hissing, dangerous abominations no doubt. She hummed, somewhat pleased with how things were turning out. In front of her, a rock blocked her path. Morphing into a sphere, she rolled underneath it through the dark subterranean setting, eventually arriving on the other side.

Reverting back to her standing form, she cocked her weapon and smirked, ready to destroy aliens on Planet Zebes yet again.

* * *

AN: I apologize for how late this is in comparison to the anniversary, but it had to be done.

Thanks XShinkuKikinX for reviewing! Well, that's my Metroid bit, I suppose that just leaves the rest on your list, doesn't it?

Thanks for reading, this is ThePizzaLovingTurtle, see you.


	14. Donkey Kong's Barrel Blast Banana Bonaza

**Super Smash Bros. For Wii U and 3DS: The Glory of Custom Moves**

 **Donkey Kong's Barrel Blast Banana Bonanza**

Bananas. Bananas. Bananas. Oh wait, ugh, dirt, blech...Bananas.

That was what went through Donkey Kong's train of thought as he swam in glee, chuckling in a way only a brown, muscular ape would laugh, eventually bursting into a guffaw as he practically chugged down fruits left and right. His banana hoard, stored deep underground his house, held hundreds upon hundreds of the yellow, ripe fruits. It was heaven for the gorilla, and as the red tie with his initials embroidered on them in yellow, similar to the snack of his he continually chomped through his hidden valley of tropical snacks.

He was hardly even that mad that Samus pulverized him with a body check that would put a hyper-nova to the test. It was not exactly the most pleasant feeling in the world, but being a simple gorilla with simple goals, not too concerned about strategy and whatnot, it was but a scratch on his very small list of worries, which was already minuscule. He could not ask for more or less, just bananas all day, everyday.

But then again, being one of the twelve veterans of Smash, he did have some responsibilities. Technically, they were just to go protect his hoard of bananas or go beat people up, but they were responsibilities nonetheless. Brutish responsibilities, but again, someone needed to do them. What a joy, being able to just smash people in the face!

Well, at least, that was how it was for quite a while. Donkey Kong slowly stopped his rampage on the banana hoard, his freestyle strokes through the sea of yellow slowly turning into small paddles. Eventually, the Kong just laid on the pile of bananas, frowning up at the tree roots poking through the dirt ceiling of the cave he hid his hoard in.

It had been quite a while. While the woman in the Power Suit had gone off and "sort of" celebrated her anniversary off on another planet, Donkey Kong could not help but remember his older days. Sure, he enjoyed romping through the wilderness, pummeling regular old wildlife that dared crossing his path, or any of his fellow ape or monkey companions in search of the potassium-filled fruits. At least, he did so unconsciously, most of the time he just hooted with glee as he pelted animals with barrels. But the charm of barrel flinging was only so great. He missed the old days, a time where easygoing animals were not his main target.

Once upon a time, he was a rather hefty, angry gorilla. No, perhaps was it his grandfather? He could not remember, for he was just a simple ape. Regardless of who it was specifically was, the gorilla was rather furious at the time. Angry enough, in fact, that Donkey Kong took the time to kidnap a damsel by the name of Pauline one fine day. A woman, who, happened to be a rather close acquaintance of his would be nemesis, Mario. The very same Mario that was practically decimated by his brother and green and a puffball a few chapters earlier, in fact. The Donkey Kong of years past would fling barrel after barrel at the plumber, who would either jump and dodge or stay and let himself get run over as he ascended the tower. After quite a while, the charade grew dated, and so did the Donkey Kong who had once flung wooden containers down several flights of construction.

Those were the days. At least it was for the older gorilla, who had aged dramatically. The Donkey Kong of the present, on the other hand, was more well known for traversing jungles and occasionally picking up a stray barrel in his quest. As he laid down in the banana pile, he thought about these barrels. It was bizarre having them in the middle of a natural jungle, but they were certainly a help in dispatching any enemies while also snatching floating bananas. Bananas. Barrels.

An epiphany struck the ape like a lightning bolt. Jolting up from his throne of yellow, he gripped a single banana, peeled the luminescent yellow skin off, and popped the soft, pale fruit into his maw, chewing it thoughtfully. After finishing his snack, a light bulb burst over the brown ape's head. With a yelp of excitement, the ape scrambled off of the hoard of fruits, making his way out of the cave and into the sunlight.

The light was almost blinding as he left the small cavern underneath a tree. Blinking repeatedly, the Kong swiftly brushed past dirt and leaves. As soon as his eyes adjusted, he was greeted to a beaten dirt path surrounded by tropical flora and fauna, palm trees and other various large plants clustering around the path. He rolled along, past other creatures that dwelled in the jungle who leaped off the path, narrowly avoiding the Kong by diving into the bushes.

Sliding to a stop down on the path off in the distance, Donkey Kong sniffed, ceasing his roll. Breathing out of his nostrils, a pair of dirt corks flying out. Observing the path ahead of him, he snorted in glee, finding the round, easily destructible wooden projectile lying on the path ahead of him. Slowly making his way over towards the container, he picked it up and hoisted it over his head, flashing a grin. With this, he would truly relive the past of his ancestor before him and hopefully bruise the competition.

* * *

Donkey Kong was cowering under a barrel barricade, yelping in alarm each time a barrel sailed over his head.

Sitting behind his barrier on a segment of jungle rising from the ground, serving as a battle platform, his situation could be similarly referred to as a snowball fight, but with barrels. The jungle platform rising above a shroud of coconut adorned trees and ancient ruins that he and his opponent stood on, for whatever bizarre Super Smash Bros. reason continually generated random brown barrels. From the start of the match, since Donkey Kong had brought his own barrel, there have been plenty of items, both barrel and non-barrel that popped into existence. Whenever a barrel was tossed and broken, occasionally a random destructive item would pop out.

So, needless to say, the brown ape was beginning to regret his decision. Covering his head with his hands as if it were a helmet, he slowly peeked over the wall of wooden objects he had made, eyes peering out into the jungle curiously. Yet again, he ducked, watching as another barrel came extremely close to smacking his head off.

"Wahaha!" A mocking response erupted from the other end.

Frowning, the gorilla grumbled in his own ape language, watching as several more objects took flight above him, traveling in an inaccurate arc. On the other side of the large platform the two "fought" on was a short, chubby man garbed in yellow.

Said chubby man glared up at the sky and yelled, "Hey!"

The man wore a yellow cap with a large "W" plastered on the front and shirt under his light-violet overalls. A spiny, "w" shaped mustache elongated from the bottom of his large pink nose, shifty eyes glancing towards the barricade of barrels. Beefy arms held the would be projectile aloft, and immediately flung it towards the barricade. This man was none other than the nefarious Wario.

"I'm-a gonna win!" He yelled with another set of cackling as the barrel smashed into its brethren.

Ducking his head under his hands, planting his face on the ground, Donkey Kong grunted as several barrels rolled over him. Groaning, the ape shook his head, then shook its fist in the direction of the wicked smirk Wario cast. His pleased demeanor indicated that he was in no way ready to cease his barrage of barrel throwing. That irritated the ape. That was his job! But before he could leap into an uncontrollable ape rage and bash the little man's nose in, something dropped from the sky which may have solved his problems.

Landing directly in front of Donkey Kong from seemingly out of nowhere was a barrel. But unlike all the other generic barrels that shattered on the ground somewhere, this barrel in particular had the initials, "DK" stamped in red and yellow on the front. Just barely, the cylindrical brown storage unit shook, enough to cause a grin to spread across Donkey Kong's face. Rubbing his ape hands together eagerly, he got to his feet and barreled towards the barrel.

Man, I waited a whole week to use that line.

Rolling his eyes towards the clouds as he spun towards the wooden barrel in the shape of a sphere. Furrowing his brow, Wario reached behind him, picking up yet another brown barrel, raising it over his head. With one fell swoop of his hands, Donkey Kong gripped the barrel and raised it over his own noggin as well. Soon, the two were glaring at one another face to face. Like a sheriff and a bandit with a grudge in a spaghetti western, the two stood unmoving, their weapons of choice ready and loaded, with a mystery item inside.

As a lone tropical parrot flew above them in the background, squawking, the two launched their attacks. The barrels were launched simultaneously the moment the sound blared out of the avian's beak in the background. The smashed together, splintered wood and rings of iron spinning everywhere. They immediately made a case as to shield their eyes from the potential missiles of wood. As the dust settled around the debris, the two of them removing their arms from their eyes.

Pupils growing wide, the two of them stood still for a solid minute. At the ground where the barrels were smashed, there now laid two previously concealed objects. Well, if you can count a chimpanzee an object. A small chimp wearing a red hat with the logo, "Nintendo" emblazoned on the front glanced around in confusion. His long brown tail wriggled to and fro slowly. In front of him laid a glass trophy case, with some form of humanoid stuck inside. Donkey Kong grinned yet again. Now was the time to-

"Ha!" Wario shouted, sliding in to take the trophy case, kicking away the chimp as a fortunate side-effect.

The monkey yelped as it was launched away, much to Donkey Kong's distress. Glancing back, he noticed Wario raising the trophy case into the air. As soon as his hand shot up into the air, it shattered and disintegrated immediately, a light flashing upon the destruction of the case. Now standing tall above him, a man in a violet, similar uniform-

Unfortunately, his description would have to wait, as Donkey Kong had punched him in the abdomen hard enough that the thin man flew off into the distance with a "WAAAAAAAAAHHH!"

With one glare shared between each of the two, it was clear that neither of their partners seemed fit for winning their battles. As they looked at one another, the both of the fighters hatched a devious strategy. Each taking one step forward, they threw a punch.

"Oogh." Wario grunted, smacking his fist against the much larger, heftier ape fist, the pain slowly and slowly travelling up his arm until- "WAH-"

Donkey Kong attacked yet again with a headbutt, slamming Wario into the soft earth. A dizzy, stubby yellow man laid disoriented in the hole, his eyes slowly rolling around in a daze. With one last smirk directed towards his opponent as he spun his fist around, winding up for a punch. As Wario shook his head, blinking to rid himself of his dizziness, he managed to clear the blurriness out of his eyes and focus on the image directly in front of him.

Tilting his cap, he stared directly at an ape fist. "...Aww-"

He was sent hurdling into the stratosphere, not unlike many of the barrels he had tossed before. Except unlike the barrels, he stayed in one piece, a large red mark remaining where he had been bashed. Spinning off towards the stars, he disappeared in a blink of an eye and a flash of light.

Victorious, despite the painstaking process of dodging (and getting hit by) multiple barrels, Donkey Kong beat on his chest, shouting his victory to the sky. He was soon answered with an irritated screech. Despite the rhetorical nature of his hooting and hollering, Donkey Kong spun around, confusion clear on his face. What then replaced the look of confusion was a legume. A peanut, launched with quite the high velocity in his direction, caught him off guard. As the shell shattered in his face, he wiped off the remnants, glaring in the original direction of the shot.

Without warning, he was met with a brown and red fury, which smacked and beat him until he found himself on the edge of the stage, bordering a cliff which would, simply, ring him out in a rather explosive way. Finding himself struggling to keep balance, he stared at the aggressor, his eyes expanding in an instant as he was struck with another blow.

The monkey from earlier was not too happy. As he kicked Donkey Kong off the cliff, the ape falling to the ground and subsequently to his doom, he briefly remarked in his own, primitive language something about keeping barrels away from chubby men.

* * *

After the pillar of light erupted where he fell, the ape found himself, his opponent, and the victor sitting in a set of ruins. Donkey Kong and Wario groaned and scoffed at the monkey in the little red hat, who clapped for himself.

"The winner is Diddy Kong!" The announcer's voice reverberated throughout the ruins.

Perhaps a few less barrels next time. Or none at all, that would do, Donkey Kong thought.

* * *

AN: Apologies for the delay, work is a bit taxing.

Thanks red fiend for reviewing. I'm glad I could write a Metroid based chapter, even if it was late to the anniversary.

Thanks for reading, this is ThePizzaLovingTurtle, see you.


	15. Sinister Symphonies

**Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS: The Glory of Custom Moves**

 **Sheik's Malicious Melodies**

The Smash Brothers waiting room was rather mellow compared to the usual. While normally stuffed to the brim with fighters ready and willing to beat down one another, it was...not very active at the moment. The seats were almost completely empty, save for a small fraction of a remaining handful.

Sitting adjacent to the walls was a person. The person's face was covered from the mouth up in a white fold, as was her blonde hair jutting out of a white, wrapped cap. She wore a ragged tunic with sleeves ripped at the edges, bandages covering her wrists and a large eye insignia that shedded a single tear was emblazoned on the blue vest across her chest. She dangled her right leg over her left with a twitch as if ready for action at any moment, her eyes closed shut.

With bandaged yet fully operational fingers, she reached up at a small golden harp in her left hand with white strings that gleamed despite the lack of proper sunlight in the room. She strummed it once and hummed along as a string of notes followed, strung together in a calm chime.

"Match call!" The announcer's boisterous voice invaded the room.

The person ceased the strums quickly. She quickly holstered her harp behind her and stretched her hands. Without hesitation, she sprinted towards the doors at the back of the room. They opened as she approached and shut behind her as she entered as if by an unseen magic. The empty room was left in a melancholy silence except for a small buzz that rang out as the doors shut.

* * *

Beneath the several cloaks that shrouded a majority of her face, Sheik's eyes opened. She stretched plainly and glanced around her new battlefield. Her bandaged fingers fidgeted with three needles restlessly as her eyes darted around to and fro.

The sound of a train whistle alerted her.

She glanced down. She stood tall on top of a wooden roof of a caboose connected to a train moving rather quickly. How Sheik was not immediately flung off was somewhat bizarre. Gigantic mountains and modest trees appeared to blur as the train passed by and the wheels clacked as they travelled the tracks.

Across from her stood her opponent. Luigi shivered on the top of the main train car as he adjusted his green cap. Whether it was from frayed nerves or the fact that the wind chill must have been extreme at the rate the train chugged along, he trembled with the most nervous look on his face. Sheik closed her eyes.

The announcer's voice rang out and startled Luigi, "Three! Two! One! Go!"

With the sound of an invisible crowd's cheer in the background, Luigi hopped up in shock. He reached from behind him and shakily pulled out a red vacuum cleaner and aimed it towards Sheik as if he would shoot her down where she stood. On the other side of the stage, she hardly made a move. As if imitating him, Sheik reached from behind her and pulled out the golden harp she had played earlier. At the sight of the gorgeous harp, Luigi ceased his shivers and gawked at her. Was she going to lull him to sleep with it? The thought did not sound too bad to be honest.

The melody that followed might have done the trick. While the locomotive vehicle they stood on rattled and steamed noisily, somehow the harp's sound was not interrupted by the hustle and bustle. Sweet plucks of music danced in Luigi's ears like the grass. He could not help but relax as the sounds wrapped him in audible comfort.

Then the music ceased. Luigi could practically feel his mustache droop in disappointment. He gawked at Sheik with a sort of morose stare, his previous petrification replaced with a morbid desire for encore.

Sheik did not glance at him at first. She paused as she watched the train chug by; she stared at the world as it appeared to rush past them. The grasslands the train tracks were built on started to give way to mountainous, rocky terrain. Sheik glanced up and stared across her opponent, still in a music-bound trance. A hint of sulfur made its way into her bandana. She noticed large, crimson, ominous mountains that spewed smoke. A stream of orange and red dripped down the sides of them slowly; a tree that stood tall exposed to the river of lava was incinerated nearly instantaneously.

A thought of inspiration had invaded her head. If she had not worn several layers across her face, Luigi might have seen her smirk. As she smiled wickedly underneath her cloak, she took up the harp and strummed once more. She strummed a dramatic song of rising notes of what an army that marched through hostile territory might hear echo throughout their heads.

Luigi became absorbed in the music. So absorbed, he almost did not notice his short brown boots catch smoke. But thanks to his nose, he sniffed, and stared straight down.

"Aiiiiieeee!" He screamed in fright as he kicked off embers that seemed to manifest out of the blue.

The minor embers and the fact his precious boots were slightly burnt were the least of his worries. Throughout the chaos, he hardly noticed the red insignia that materialized underneath him slowly. He only just barely managed to notice as he ceased his panic. He wiped sweat off of his head, and sniffed once. The burning smell of smoke was still there. It smelled like-

Italian.

Luigi's eyes widened. A burst of magma spouted out from the red incantation circle under his feet and launched him straight towards the stars with quite the fearful whoop. He went off a comet; burning and bright, before vanishing into the sky. Sheik continued to strum underneath the sky and savored her small victory.

* * *

Luckily for Luigi, instead of freezing as he left the atmosphere while simultaneously coping with burning, the world around him began shifting to a desolate ruins space with a single spotlight. In front of him, Sheik stood poised and strummed her harp with a hum.

Immediately, he decided to be polite despite having been flung into orbit by a miniature volcanic eruption. He clapped patiently and thanked his lucky stars that he wore gloves. Sheik seemed to be finished with her impromptu performance however, she slammed something towards the floor. A plume of smoke masked her as she escaped, with Luigi's last impressions similar to a cat who had difficulty with a hairball.

* * *

As the smoke cleared, Luigi found himself sat down on a chair back in the waiting room, the twin doors at the back shut. He sighed to himself and shifted uncomfortably. He had not even gotten to try out his Poltergust 5000.

Although, it seemed as though Sheik had no time to waste. As soon as she reappeared in the room, her harp at her side, she sprinted, nearly crouched towards the ground as she moved with swift feet. As the doors shut behind her, Luigi turned his attention back towards his prized vacuum cleaner. He boredly rubbed a green bulb on the back of the machine when someone dropped right next to him.

"Rrargh!" Cursed the orange dragon as it shook its head.

Charizard shook its head irritably. Water splashed down onto Luigi from his wings and head as it dried itself. He felt somewhat relieved, after all, it was soothing compared to the freezerburns he had suffered through before. However, he was quite curious. Why would a dragon whose life was staked on a bonfire on the end of its tail be completely drenched?

Charizard let out a gruff growl. Luigi certainly did not speak reptile, but he could have sworn the dragon said something along the lines of "Sheik", although it could have just been using its tongue like a snake, the lean plumber thought. Of course, when Sheik popped back in the room, her fingers still held onto the beautiful little instrument, it seemed difficult to pass it off as just a coincidence.

Especially now that Charizard snarled at the sneaky person. Sheik calmly turned her head towards the dragon and gave a light salute, as if to pacify the monster's irritation with respect. The lizard with wings simply crossed its small arms and snorted a peppery puff of air out of its nostrils. With that said and done, Sheik sprinted off into the fray once more.

Yet another person- Or monster, who knew, popped down into a chair across from them, and Luigi briefly wondered if this was going to become a recurring theme. A young man, eyes blue and hair blonde, promptly landed across from them.

"The Monado-" Shock crossed his face. "It didn't predict it."

Holstered on the side of his dark crimson jacket and violet pants, a sword of sorts, with a hollow circle by the middle of the hilt, laid next to him with azure sparks that flew out every so often. He sat on the chair for quite a while as he stared at the ceiling in shock. Luigi blinked and pointed the head of his vacuum cleaner towards the boy. With a flick of a switch, the vacuum blew air at him and the makeshift wind rustled his hair as it passed towards him.

He blinked in surprise. "Eh? Oh, it's over…but that was some fight."

Luigi waved at him from across the room. He greeted him by his name with a little hello.

"Ah, hello." Shulk spoke up, his name revealed by Luigi's surely riveting line of dialogue. "Did you see Sheik out there? Just- I couldn't believe it. She had...unfathomable power. Each time she strummed it felt like a storm blew past."

The plumber's mouth gaped open. The harp. The songs she played. Of all of the tricks she could have pulled, the HARP was the problem?!

He sighed and brandished his weapon, a thin saber constructed of azure light unsheathed from the blade itself. The two other losers backed up in their seats. "It was...astounding. I'm not sure how the Monado couldn't foresee it," Shulk said as he stared down at his weapon, "But she was really- Uh, powerful out there."

As if to emphasize his point, even more challengers popped in the room from the ceiling. A busted up, round pink robot armor dropped onto the chairs with a huge _thunk_. Kirby's Robobot armor steamed and jittered uncomfortably. Out from the top of the cockpit, a small pudgy pink puff packed with power popped out and hopped onto a separate seat, all the while Kirby's blue eyes swirled about dizzily on the seat. Next to him, Luigi's brother popped in and landed on an adjacent chair.

Luigi gasped in horror. "Mario!" He yelped, two gloved hands raised parallel to his face.

Around the red plumber's cap, a shadow danced around his head. Mario glanced around blindly and grasped at the air, his pupils gray. "Luigi?"

Without hesitation, Luigi flicked the switch on his Poltergust machine and aimed it at his brother. A gust of wind pulled at his cap until the darkness that seemed to enjoy its waltz around his head was caught in the suction. The shadow appeared to grip onto Mario's red hat for a while until the Poltergust finally pulled its grip away from its cap and absorbed the shadow.

Mario blinked and swiveled his head around the room in panic. Once vision flooded back into his optic nerves, he sighed in relief and laid a gloved hand on his overalls.

Just then, Sheik reentered the room same as the others with her instrument still gripped in her right hand. She played a victory strum, which might have been soothing, but none of her victims wanted anything of it. The orange dragon hissed and backed away into a corner, Shulk shielded himself with his sword, Kirby ducked back into his destroyed armor with a yelp, and Luigi-

Well, Luigi just screamed again.

Almost as if she savored the fear, Sheik grinned at them as she stood in the middle of the room. Each of the challengers avoided her gaze; Mario even went as far as to plug his ears as if that might help ward against the murderous music. She relished the panic and played on and on-

"Hyah!"

Until he entered. Sheik's eyes grew wide. He stepped in and glared at Sheik with big, bright, bold eyes. Not to mention shorter...everything else. Toon Link had his hands on his hips, his sword sheathed behind him. Sheik glared back at him and played her harp rather menacingly for a harp.

Toon Link responded with a surprise comeback; he reached into his pockets and pulled out a strange, white baton. He spun it about somewhat and created a rather loud hum that permeated the room.

The two of them stared at each other for a while with their weapons/instruments at the ready. Then, as if they had read each others' minds, the both of them took off for the doors at the back of the room. Behind Toon Link, multiple cheers erupted, not to mention multiple words of encouragement before both he and the ninja were spirited off to battle as they entered the doors, the sound of applause faded behind them as they did so.

* * *

The train chugged along briskly in the daylight of the grassy plains. Over the train, a flat yet regal platform constructed of the similar gold and wood appearance of the long vehicle down below. Already, clouds spun over the duo as it appeared as though the two would spin a ballad.

Sheik started a strange shanty, the black clouds above them buzzed with a irritated energy. A boom shattered the noise of the train below them as a flash of lightning flashed down, along with the downpour of rain. In response, Toon Link raised his baton. He aimed up, then to the left and right; a friendly chime surrounded the air. The wind around them, as if gripped by a new hesitation, changed direction. The clouds above followed somewhat as the whirling wind dashed by.

Of course, lighting is not generally deflected by wind. As the rapid whirls of air spun away at the clouds, a flash of light bolted towards Toon Link. Quickly, Toon Link took his brown shield from his back and raised it towards the sky. The bolt dissipated as soon as it struck the shield, but the concerto was far from over. The ninja stood poised and strummed her harp. A menacing, gloomy song invaded the air. Under Toon Link's brown boots, a dark violet vortex emerged.

He began to sink, but he was far from going out. He twirled his baton, and a soft jig emerged. As the train rolled past, stones rocked back and forth with a nervous energy. As the notes played, the rocks lifted up from the earth and followed the train. Sheik noticed from the corner of her eyes and ducked, small pebbles scratched at her as they flew past. The earth assembled under Toon Link and lifted him from the shadows which gnawed restlessly at the rocks.

Sheik's eyes narrowed underneath her mask. She placed her harp back in her cloak and swapped it with a handful of needles. Without a second to spare, she sprinted towards Toon Link as the rocks around him swirled with the shadows. His already huge eyes widened as he attempted to think of another tune. She began to scale the sheer rock wall that assembled under him.

Toon Link bit his lip and stuffed his baton back in his pockets. Quickly, he fumbled as he looked for something, anything he could use to combat her. He realized that he had only his instruments. He reached back and attempted to unsheath his sword, but grasped at nothing but air. He gasped and glanced down; his Master Sword was embedded in the wooden roof of the train. Had the wind been that strong?

Sheik continued climbing with her needles ready to strike. Toon Link gulped and reached into his pockets. It was now or never. This time, he pulled out a new instrument.

His opponent's eyes widened. Toon Link held a simple flute with two green tassels that drooped from the wood handle and several colored chutes that already whistled readily as the wind blew past. However, she would not let her winning streak be finished; she continued to scale upwards regardless of the instrument.

Toon Link shut his eyes and blew. Three quick, light notes sounded off out of the flute. Then, with a flick of her wrist, Sheik pierced the flute and knocked it out of his hands. With a frown, Toon Link backed away and readied his shield as she ascended towards the top. Sheik acrobatically leapt onto the top of the rock wall as the shadows chewed away at the bottom and brandished several more needles.

Her pointed ears pricked up. The distinct noise of a bird's _caw_ approached. She spun around with her needles at the ready. Without warning, a crew of seagulls dive-bombed Sheik, much to her shock. She lost her footing on the rocks and fell down towards the train tracks. As she slipped, the train whistle blew one last time before she felt herself slam into the tracks as the train roared behind her.

* * *

Meanwhile, at the waiting room, each contender sat up straight and glared at the doors eagerly. They hardly moved an inch since the challenge began. Charizard twisted its tail around and waved its flame in the air impatiently. Luigi and Mario sat with their heads held between their gloves. Kirby pet his mech reassuringly while Shulk inspected his Monado blade closely, gasping in surprise as the sword flashed once. His eyes blinked azure for a moment.

"Guys-" He spoke up for a moment.

Then they reappeared. Toon Link and Sheik stood side by side, though Sheik clearly dwarfed the other in terms of height. Neither said a word, (though they might not have been able to) the other fighters stared in silence.

Suddenly, Toon Link threw his hands up into the air. Everyone's mouth could have fallen to the floor. In his childlike hands, he held up the harp. Retracting his arms, he began playing a sweet, sweet tune of victory. Pandemonium broke out. Charizard roared in satisfaction and the Mario Bros. high-fived. Kirby's Robobot shifted and blinked back to life with a cheery hum.

Shulk simply grinned at the smaller swordsman. "Way to go!"

Toon Link could not help but grin, until he felt a hand fall on his shoulder. He looked back up and gulped; Sheik glared at him through the many fabrics she wore and the spiky hair that drooped down from her head. Much to everyone's surprise, her eyes lit up, almost as if she had smiled. More bizarre was the fact she pat Toon Link on the head in a congratulatory friendliness. She made her way for the exit. Without further hesitation, the group burst into cheers and lifted Toon Link in a simultaneous effort and paraded him out of the room.

Sheik giggled underneath her cloak. "Admirable work, hero."

She strut off as a bunch of silly fighters celebrated behind her.

* * *

AN: I thought the way they used the instruments like the Wind Waker and the Goddess Harp in Hyrule Warriors was fantastic. Why not the Spirit Flute? Maybe they do use it, I don't know, I haven't purchased the 3DS version or the DLC packs.

Thanks for reading, this is ThePizzaLovingTurtle, see you.


	16. Second Sealed Fate

**Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS: The Glory of Custom Moves**

 **Second Sealed Fate**

The Falchion blade glowed with a brilliant gold sheen in the bright light of day as Lucina held it aloft towards the sky. She sighed and breathed in the sweet, crisp air around her as she stood poised. She stared up at her sword for quite some time and relished the sight of it as it gleamed in the sun. The moment might have been better if not for the overbearing noise.

Lucina bit her lip and shut her eyes as foot traffic boomed around her. Fighters of all shapes and sizes walked around her as she pointed her weapon upwards. Just behind her the doors to the Super Smash Bros. tournament were jam-packed with foot traffic, stuffed to the gills with combatants and spectators, excited chatter and the symphony of shoes skidding. Not a moment went by when the doorway was completely clear of people. A banner stretched from the top of the building, one that was labelled with the words, "Smash Tourney Today!".

The blue haired swords-woman sheathed her blade and advanced on the building. _"A tournament… I suppose a challenge wouldn't hurt. Anything to improve."_

These were her thoughts as she attempted to enter the building. The crowd, however, made it significantly harder for her to keep those words in her head. They brushed past her and practically drowned the doorway in flesh. She gritted her teeth and pushed forward regardless, and eventually shoved through. She rolled onto the carpet into the building and pressed on.

Noise was loud. Not only were challengers aplenty, but so were the spectators. Many curious persons hopped from spot to spot and eyed Lucina with excitement and awe. She simply walked by a few, but managed to wave.

" _Strange…"_ Lucina thought to herself as she pressed forward.

"Lucina!" A voice called out from the crowd.

She perked up and spun around. Who among this crowd of people could have possibly called her name?

She got her answer quite quicker than she would have liked. In a blur, someone leaped up to her and gripped her around the neck.

Despite the fact that it could have been a possible assassination, Lucina could not help but laugh. "I would've never expected to find you here."

"Are you kidding?" A youthful voice cooed back at her. "Why would I miss a chance to watch my niece win a tournament?"

When the jittery blur finished speaking, she set herself down on the floor in front of Lucina. Blonde hair wrapped underneath a white headdress styled into double pigtails bounced almost as much as the person herself. Large, crystal blue eyes gazed up at her excitably. The girl who hugged her wore a bright yellow dress befitting of a maiden, except for the steel cage underneath it. For whatever reason, a metal cage shaped like half of a sphere held up her dress and white frills up like a large skirt; she wore white leggings and brown boots underneath the flourish of her outfit.

"Aunt Lissa," Lucina smiled down at her. "I'm astounded and flattered you would think that."

"Of course!" Lissa spoke up and pouted. "There's hardly anything to do in Ylisse lately. Chrom's been stuffed up to his nose in paperwork, Frederick's been busy training new recruits-"

"What about Owain?" Lucina asked inquisitively as she set down her much shorter aunt.

She pursed her lips. "...I dunno. I haven't seen him around for a while."

"Perhaps he's off spinning another daring tale." Lucina suggested as the crowd shuffled around the two of them.

"Probably." Lissa shrugged ignorantly then turned back towards her niece with a big bright smile. "So, when do you start?"

The sound of a whistle pierced the air. Instinctively, Lucina turned behind her. Through the line of bystanders within the Smash Brothers building she could distinctly see a large white glove wave to her from the crowd. Well, large may have been an understatement.

"Last call for the tourney!" Master Hand's voice boomed across the hall past lines of chaotic hustle and bustle.

The cluster of potential spectators shuffled and shook in excitement as they trampled over in the direction of the hand. Master Hand pointed one large finger to the left at the very end of the hall and the spectators poured in as swiftly as they could. Throughout the chaos, the giant glove jabbed a thumb to the right, its knuckles faced in the direction of the azure swords-woman.

Lucina nodded back to Master Hand then glanced down at Lissa. "I'll be sure to make you proud, Aunt Lissa."

Lucina began to take off. She was stopped short when she felt a tug on her cape that prompted her to turn around again.

"Hey, wait a minute!" Lissa called up to her taller niece. "Before you go, I need to hand you something!"

"Oh?" She tilted her head with an inquisitive mien.

"Yeah, one sec." Lucina's aunt muttered and reached behind her, fidgeting with her hands and with an expression of annoyance. "...Could've sworn...ah! Here it is!"

With a swift, single motion, she unceremoniously dragged out a very large, silver sphere from who knew where. A dainty smile crossed her face as she presented a large, round, blue orb encased in the middle of a spherical silver cage to Lucina. The peculiar object startled her.

Lucina blinked several times before saying, "Is that a-"

"It's a good luck charm!" Lissa grinned as she slowly rose it closer to Lucina's face, though she backed away with a somewhat worried conscience.

"I believe it's a little more than just a charm, Lissa." Lucina murmured as she rose her brown gloved hand in front of her face. "Why did you…?"

"It doesn't work. We've tried." Lissa pouted and retracted her arms in a sort of parody of an offense. "Lucy, Chrom spent a lot of gold on this! You can't just rebuff it."

"But didn't you just-" Lucina's eyes widened in surprise. "Father bought this?"

"Again," The voice of the ginormous white glove echoed throughout the building for everyone, including Lucina, to hear, "Last call for the tourney! Anyone still stuck in exposition building now's your last chance!"

Lucina twisted her head behind her with a frown. With less and less foot traffic in the halls, she could see the imposing figure of Master Hand gesture to her in particular with a point of his thick index and middle finger. She pivoted back around to her aunt, and-

She gazed up at her with the sweetest smile she had ever seen. Lissa batted her lashes in an almost impish nature. "Right, and we wouldn't want to disappoint him, right? Think of it like a...token of your bond…?"

Lucina sighed resignedly and gripped the sphere and retrieved it from Lissa. "...You're right."

Lissa smirked, then without a word of warning spun her around and shoved her towards the hall. "Now go and get 'em!"

Lucina managed a slight smile as she jogged down the hallway. She waved back as she dashed down the hallway carpet. Lissa mirrored her goodbye, with a much swifter wave motion. Lucina ducked into the right door just past Master Hand quickly, which left Lissa in a circular lobby room with a few spectator stragglers. The gloved hand then gestured towards the room on the left again, less like a command, but a welcome suggestion.

Lissa smirked and took off for the door with a gleeful giggle. "This is gonna be good!"

As to be expected from such an event, Lucina entered the waiting lobby and was instantly greeted with an uproar. The moment her blue boot tapped on the clean floor, chaos greeted her with open arms. Several fighters crowded the seats, though many eagerly flocked towards the door in the far corner back of the room, the set of double doors covered in a swath of potential competitors.

The orange dragon, Charizard, laid on the floor and watched the rest fruitlessly attempt to budge the shut set of doors with a smirk and a puff of smoke. After a few unsuccessful attempts at cracking the door open a handful of disappointed fighters slunk back into their seats. Smirk now wide and eagerness peaked, Charizard rose to its large orange feet, stood tall and proud, and charged towards the doors.

As Charizard launched back from the recoil as a result of slamming into a pair of shut doors, Kirby and his mech occupied two separate seats, as the Fire and Flying type Pokémon puffed a frustrated cloud of smoke into the air. Kirby, brown pilot goggles strapped to his head, tinkered and tapped with his Robobot armor curiously. The armor laid dormant, its yellow half cylinder eyes dull and lifeless. Kirby was having the time of his life, nonetheless, poking and prodding with his tiny pudgy hands.

Eventually Kirby became somewhat too invested and curious in the machinations of the machine. Lacking a care in the world, Kirby began prodding about what appeared to be the controls of the mech with its tiny round pink fist, barely noticing the sudden red beams dimly flashing across the two mechanical eyes as he reached for a small button within the Robobot Armor.

The resulting explosion created a smoggy cloud thicker than the dragon's puffs.

Lucina took mental notes of the other competitors sprawled across the floor with a sharp and calculated glare. _"They are a force to be reckoned with."_

She gave a cursory glance around then sat down on a chair. Instantly she hopped back up, rubbed her back, and reached behind her. Lucina retrieved her "good luck charm", the blue sphere within the silver cage spun about within in a sort of chaotic potential. It stayed in one place, but for whatever reason Lucina felt that it was waiting for the right time.

She shook her head. Whatever time and whatever place the orb's "good luck" would truly take effect was unknown to Lucina, but she hardly paid attention to the luck. Her heart raced as she gazed back towards the crowded set of doors.

" _Father…"_ Lucina thought to herself as she gripped the sphere between both of her gloved hands. _"It's somewhat unnecessary but I feel the need to thank you. This...lucky seal I suppose."_

"I'll do my best." Lucina muttered through the smoke. She wrinkled her nose suddenly.

"Ugh!" The swords-woman heard someone gag. "Someone open the doors already!"

She glanced up to the ceiling and sighed as she waved away the black smoke agreeably. Lucina took the seal and stowed it behind her out of sight. She held her hand to her sheathed sword and closed her eyes as if to attempt to tune out the chaos that unfolded in the room.

Before she had the idea to plug her ears, a voice gasped out in the very minimal pandemonium of the room. "Uh, am I late? Sorry, this place has been pretty busy."

Lucina gave a cursory glance towards the door. White hair and surprised red eyes aimed at the doors as his pointed ears twitched inquisitively. For a moment she thought it was Robin. The similarities between the man and her comrade ended at his hair. The young man's torso and legs were garbed in a monochrome armor of white and black plates and a lavish, short blue cape, one thin end draped from the front of his armor and flowed freely behind him. As for footwear…

He wore no shoes. His armor plates reached down to his heels and ended at the back. Despite the many pebbles, trash, and other such impediments of the modern realm that no soul should have to suffer through without shoes, his eyes glinted a hint of readiness, that of a friendliness and recklessness.

The powerful aroma of smoke hit him eventually. He narrowed his eyes. "Gah! Hold on."

He reached at his side. A dull green light glinted back at Lucina for a split second before the room was flooded with an even brighter green light, caused her to cover her eyes with one arm, the smoke still circling about the room. As the sudden flash faded from her vision, she uncovered her face and blinked back towards the entrance.

A roar like that of a dragon followed by a sudden single strong gust and the smoke dissipated. Lucina had hardly time to react when the flash blinded her yet again much to her irritation. When the pretty dots that blinked across her eyes faded she glanced back at the door. The young man in white and black armor stood tall, brushed off his monochrome uniform, and smiled.

"Alright." A pleased hum crooned from his direction. "That should clear it up a bit."

Mild thanks and cheers called out from the crowd. At his seat, Kirby sat in somewhat of a confused daze next to a still dysfunctional machine, happy and almost completely unaware of his own folly. Charizard stood besides him with a reptilian frown and a few test flaps of its wings.

Lucina just blinked at the barefoot male in the doorway. "Corrin."

Corrin blinked in surprise. He turned towards his right to where Lucina remained seated. "Oh! Hello Lucina! You're competing in the tournament?"

"Of course." She nodded and folded her hands across her lap.

"Heh." Corrin pursed his lips and nodded as he walked across the room sat down adjacent to her. "I guess that should've been obvious from the start."

"I assume you're competing as well?" Lucina inquired with a cursory glance towards the white haired swordsman.

Corrin nodded, suddenly solemn, and peered back at the entrance. "I'm hoping that it'll take my mind off of...recent events."

Lucina noticed the disdain creep onto Corrin's face upon mention. Before she could respond, a loud bang sounded through the room, and everyone peeped the doors. A bright light glowed as the doors everyone pined for finally cracked open and the hearty sound of a voice being cleared crooning through the portal. The fighters remained in their seats, silent, but extremely eager at the prospect of being called.

"Lucina!" The voice beckoned to the swords-woman.

The groans of several impatient fighters fluttered about the room. One surprised Lucina blinked in surprise at her name being called. Corrin mirrored her expression of surprise just the same.

"Ah," He frowned, "I guess this conversation we'll have to talk after the tournament. Well," His frown switched into a small friendly smile, "Good luck in the tournament."

"As to you as well." Lucina responded quickly as she sat up and off her seat and continued towards the doors.

Corrin watched among the minor chaos spurred by his fellow battle-ready Smashers as she took off for the opposite doorway. She wandered far through the doors into the light and continued with a steady hand and a valiant strut. The doors shut behind her slowly but surely and the light cloaked her in white and blue as she spirited away.

As she felt herself being carried throughout time and space Lucina felt a sudden weight tug down on her. She swallowed, maintained her posture, and continued on.

* * *

Lucina's eyes opened and was greeted large, tan, faded walls arranged in a great circle around her. Above the walls a crowd roared in excitement. Stadium seats from all around held people of all sorts gaze down at her. She glanced across the stage. Upon the very same mechanical, tan platform she stood upon, a light approached.

The shape of a monochrome dragon popped in with a splash of water and a shift. "Alright." Corrin hummed as the black and white scales shifted back into place on his human body in the shape of his armor.

"Ahem." Lucina cleared her throat.

Corrin's ruby irises flashed confusion as he blinked back. "Oh! Lucina! What are the odds huh?"

Lucina sighed and shook her head. "Yes…" She readied her weapon in her right hand and sliced forward towards the air. "But enough conversation. We'll have to fight."

"...Ah." Corrin nodded. "Of course. But can I just point out something first?"

"What is it?" Lucina asked as her eyes remained set on her opponent.

"When did you get the horse?" He asked with his hands by his side and his head tilted.

Lucina blinked in confusion. She mouthed the words in a voiceless echo for a minute. Suddenly she became aware of the large beast that snorted beneath her. She glanced down.

An equestrian covered from head to toe in shining blue and silver armor padded at the coliseum platform below her. It appeared quite content despite the fact that it was geared up for war.

Lucina examined herself as well. Her thinner, more flexible blue armor and cape strung about behind her were replaced with the weight of thick blue armor similar to the horse's beneath her. She glanced at her left. Her other arm held a large shield, carried by two brown straps circling about it, while as she glanced at her right she noticed her choice of weaponry. Falchion was gone. It had been replaced by a thick lance which extended in front of her.

For a moment Lucina pursed her lips. "...The seal." She felt extraordinarily foolish. "I should've left it behind!"

"What?" Corrin called back from across the platform.

"Never you mind!" Lucina shouted back and spun her lance by her side. "This is odd...but it's no challenge I can't face. Prepare yourself!"

Someone among the crowd roared in approval. Corrin nodded. "Very well!"

As if an imaginary bell sounded off the two took off. As Corrin sprinted stooped down towards the platform, Lucina swallowed her uncertainty and heeded the horse forward, which, to her surprise, obeyed her wishes within seconds. As if she had the experience of a seasoned jockey she willed the horse forward, the hammer-like sound of hooves beat against the ground as it pushed itself towards the enemy, with Lucina at the ready.

"Hyaaah!" The two cried as they launched themselves towards each other.

* * *

AN: DELAYED.

Thanks Red fiend and XShinkuKikinX for reviewing!

Red fiend, although I was not the grandest of Metroid fans, that chapter was enjoyable to write.

I appreciate the enthusiasm as ever XShinkuKikinX.

Thanks for reading, this is ThePizzaLovingTurtle, see you on the Heroes battlefield.


	17. Minor Setback (Delayed)

**The scent of the land just after rain is called "petrichor". This doesn't have anything relevant to do with Smash. But you know if it ever rains now you know what that scent is.**

 **Super Smash Bros. For Wii U and 3DS: The Glory of Custom Moves**

 **Minor Setback**

Within the recesses of a large room cloaked in darkness sat a figure also cloaked in darkness. The figure wrapped his hands together and sat up on a chair of sorts.

"...Lights please?" He inquired tiredly.

There was a flash and all of a sudden the desk he sat at was illuminated. As the light settled down on the figure, it was revealed to be none other than Robin, garbed cleanly in his tactician clothes with a stack of paper organized in front of him. The tactician glanced ahead, took the top sheet of paper, and squinted.

"Right. Well, straight to the point…" He cleared his throat and smiled. "Hello...you. Our sincere apologies. It seems that...someone…" Robin glanced towards the ceiling then back across his desk. "Neglected to keep up on our progress. For those curious as to where we fighters have been, we've been hard at work on...experimenting."

The lights flashed on and off suddenly. Bits and pieces of dust and debris from the ceiling rained down on the desk. With a frown, Robin reached into his cloak, retrieved a green tome, and smacked his hand on top of the set of the papers. Carefully, he opened the pages of the book and swept it over the table, and a light gust of wind dusted off the desk.

Reaching into the pile of papers with one hand, and dusting himself off with the other, Robin started reading aloud again. "Right. For anyone who still happens to have any interest in our tales, fret not, for we will return. Eventually." He set down the page. "But for now I would advise you to be patient. We're just having a sort of...slow day."

All of a sudden the lights shut off again. Robin blinked in the darkness and squinted ahead with a frown. Reaching back into his cloak, he retrieved yet another tome, one that set itself alight with flames to illuminate the now pitch black studio. The sound of something cracking began to catch his attention. Peering upwards, Robin raised his fire tome up to the ceiling, and stared. A series of fractures began to shatter the roof above. Thinking quick, Robin kicked out of his chair, and slid underneath the cover of the desk.

Light flooded back into the room yet again. As did a deluge of plaster and dust. Robin covered his face with his sleeve and extinguished his tome as the dust rained down. Coughing, he exchanged the red book with his green yet again, and unleashed another round of gales to clear the room. Pushing himself out of the table into the light he squinted ahead at where the stack of papers used to be.

A hefty, bizarrely shaped mechanical monster with several long appendages extending from its circular base sat on the table. One glowing blue eye surveyed the room as its cylindrical head spun slowly. Cautiously, Robin began to back away, only to find that the eye had already spotted him. The machine whirled around, spied at Robin, and aimed. A red dot focused on Robin's forehead. With a silent curse, Robin raised his tome, and readied to fight. A flash of light and a loud beep emanated from the machine.

As a beam of cyan blared from the eye the world seemed to slow for Robin. Caught with his pants down, he shielded himself with his tome, and prepared for the worst. It might have been game-over had it not been for the pot lid.

"Hyah!" He heard someone shout.

A round wooden lid was blasted to smithereens in place of Robin. Robin gaped in shock then turned to his right. Link, or at least the one donning his sky-blue shirt, stood tall and proud. And with nothing but a stick as a weapon. Before Robin could acknowledge him, he found it necessary to duck, as the mechanical monster swung one of its tentacle-like appendages towards him.

Time seemed to slow again. Within the span of the few seconds that Robin and Link's eyes connected the two of them seemed to understand what they needed to do. Book and stick in hand, the two aimed at the machine.

* * *

AN: Anyone there? No one?

Eh, well you know. Even if there isn't anyone out there who's reading it's still entertaining to write to one's self.

Thanks for reading, this is ThePizzaLovingTurtle, see you!


	18. Horseplay

**Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS: The Glory of Custom Moves**

 **Horseplay**

Immediately upon charging at Corrin, Lucina realized two things. One, she was not actually used to jousting. Aiming a pointed stick at the enemy on a horse rocking back and forth was definitely a challenge. Two, her Aunt Lissa could be effectively deceptive when she tried.

She was also aware of another problem. The arena's ornate metal platform wasn't built for a horse and a rider both clad in heavy metal armor. Sure, the platform held the two of them up, but the narrow fighting space meant that there were only two ways to go: forward and back. Under normal circumstances, this wouldn't be a problem, but Lucina's steed seemed hellbent on charging ahead and only charging ahead.

Between that and Corrin's laughter, she wasn't sure what to be more embarrassed by.

Lucina missed for the second time that match, and she could feel the heat rise to her face. Corrin's laughter wasn't mocking her, far from it. Rather, Corrin looked as though he was trying his best to restrain himself. Judging by how he chortled, Lucina figured she must have looked like a dunce.

"Hey!" Lucina shouted, raising her lance.

Corrin realized his mistake just in time. The laughs were knocked out of him as he made a hard roll away from the lance, which struck the ground just past him. Corrin steadily rose to his feet, already close to the edge of the stage. As he got ahold of himself, smile wearing off, Lucina's horse trot back to the center of the stage, turned, and reared his head towards Corrin in what seemed was irritation.

"Are you finished?" Lucina questioned sternly, hitting the ground with the butt of her lance. In spite of how she sounded, Lucina could not help but feel stiff and awkward saying so seeing as she was in the middle of balancing herself and her weapon on top of the horse.

Her horse reciprocated her action with a twist of his head and a whinny. Well, Lucina assumed it was a "he".

Corrin coughed and restrained from laughter, but the hints of a smile were still on his face. "Right! Right, sorry."

Lucina studied his features. Corrin looked back up at her but struggled to meet her eyes, instead amateurishly readying his sword as if he had just picked it up. Lucina took it as a challenge and urged her horse forward. The horse responded by almost shaking her off. Barely clinging to the saddle, Lucina slapped into the side of the horse. An upside-down Corrin snorted out a laugh, then hid his face behind his sword.

 _"He is not taking me seriously,"_ Lucina concluded mentally. Grunting, she hoisted herself back on the horse and clenched the weapon in her right hand.

People began whispering to one another in the colosseum's stands. The collective hushed voices combined into a cloud of comments that Lucina could hear from miles away. Lucina's face paled slightly. The words weren't discernible, but they were definitely loud enough that Lucina could guess as to what they were saying.

It wasn't the words of the crowd that made her feel stiff. Neither was the armor that made her feel ten times heavier. Rather, in the stadium audience, Lucina could definitely pick out someone familiar.

"Aunt Lissa…" Lucina thought.

There was no mistaking her. Big blonde pigtails and equally big blue eyes gazing back at her. Lucina was torn. Lissa had given her the seal and thrown her off, that was certain. But she was just being nice. In fact, Lucina realized, it must be embarrassing to see your niece get flung around by a horse in front of an audience.

Lucina scowled down at her weapon. The lance felt strange. Her Falchion sword was balanced, almost weightless like a feather to her. Falchion was nowhere to be seen. This new lance was about as stiff as she felt in the armor and difficult for swinging. The lance was longer than her sword, but if she missed her mark…

Lucina paused. Her eyes lit up in sudden realization. She was not accustomed to horseback riding, and since her arrival to the tourneys, she had not touched a lance since she had trained for who knew how long ago. Images of knights on horseback, charging into the fray pervaded her mind. Among them was a stern face and a mess of brown hair covered in similar armor to her own.

That face belonged to Frederick, one of Aunt Lissa's closest friends.

Lucina felt a bead of sweat drip down the back of her neck. It was only the first match of the tourney, for gods' sake!

Her opponent was already stepping up to fight again. Lucina calmed herself. With the tidbits of what she knew, she adjusted her position on her horse. As if he knew what she was thinking, Lucina's steed set his sights on Corrin's white hair and snorted. Lucina twirled the lance in her right hand, took in a breath, and aimed. Before she could even move to command him, Lucina's horse took off running.

Corrin was not prepared for the bronze. Strangely, Corrin felt reinvigorated by the blow which knocked him to the ground, and any thought of laughing with it. Corrin managed a sideways glance up at the rider as he laid sprawled out on the ground. Lucina looked as though she had achieved a transformation in the few seconds she spent composing herself. Gone was the floundering princess hanging on to horse for dear life. The tear in his armor was all he needed to know.

Corrin was fighting a Great Knight now. Which sucked.

Immediately after staggering to his feet, Corrin was knocked down again, but not by Lucina's lance. The horse had taken it upon himself to kick dirt up into Corrin's face.

 _"Hey! There isn't even any dirt on this stage!"_ Corrin thought.

The next minute was exhausting. As Corrin spun around to strike with his sword, his arm was nicked by the long reach of the lance. The horse didn't help, as each attack was followed by a cloud of dust and hooves that would knock him over after each successful joust. Corrin tried, but try as he might, his Yato only scratched Lucina's armor once.

Corrin was blinded and rammed back. Corrin managed a half-roll before collapsing over the opposite edge of the stage. So far, all Corrin's attempts had managed were a scratch. One measly scratch. Corrin's face heated up in humiliation. The worst part of it all was that, in essence, Lucina was mopping the floor with him.

By running back and forth.

Corrin grunted in frustration, standing to his feet. Already the horse was coming back for another round. An idea hatched itself in Corrin's head. Corrin began to ran. There was no surprise on Lucina's face as she pointed her lance ahead. The two fighters approached the center of the stage, each one poised to strike.

But Corrin didn't strike. Instead, he leaped into the air over the horse. The steed was already skidding to a stop, but Lucina was ready. A glint flashed in her eye. She managed to launch her weapon upwards, catching Corrin between the shoulders. The force wasn't quite as great as she had anticipated, but the blow was enough to send Corrin spiraling to the ground. Lucina let herself smile as she directed the horse to turn.

Corrin's landing was the very antonym of graceful. Corrin managed not to fall on his face, though his rapid descent sent him smack-down on the right edge of the stage. He tumbled, nearly tipping over the edge. In a desperate move, Corrin plunged his sword into the ground. His Yato anchored him to the stage just as he reached the ledge.

Between quick breaths, Corrin eyed the jagged scar in the stage. He felt sorry for whoever was going to fix that.

His mental meandering didn't last. Lucina and her horse were back on the saddle at full force, speeding down the stage. Corrin's heartbeat pumped along with the beating of the horse's hooves on the metal. Corrin forced himself up from the floor and readied his sword. Lucina's steed had passed the center of the stage and was practically in front of him when Corrin steeled himself.

Within the next second, Corrin felt a subtle burst of strength. His feet felt less like lead and more like cast iron. His breath steadied and his muscles tensed up. As if he were a scarecrow, Corrin stood rigid and vigilant in spite of the incoming beast.

The lance slammed into his sword. Corrin was ready for it this time. Corrin's own eyes glinted, then were obscured. Corrin's face transformed with two monochrome horns sprouting from the top of his head. A jet-black, serpent-like visor armored his features. Corrin roared into the air, sending the coliseum into cheers and awe as Lucina, who had caught on quickly on, tried to slow her horse.

A plume of water burst out from the ground beneath Corrin's feet and caught Lucina square in the chest. Despite the fortifications upon fortifications of armor, the water was stronger. Lucina was knocked up into the air. Thanks to her heavy armor, she hardly stayed in the sky for long and fell back to the floor with a resounding thud. Lucina struggled to her feet and aimed her lance again.

"Huh?"

Lucina glanced around the arena. On the other side, Corrin was preparing for his counterattack. No sign of her horse. Lucina gazed out at the coliseum in bewilderment. Did Corrin knock her steed off the stage?

Lucina barely had time to ponder before the Yato struck her breastplate. She scowled and stepped back, then glanced down at the tear in the armor. Corrin's whirred like a chainsaw, threatening to slice. Lucina jabbed at Corrin. Despite the safer, longer length of the lance, it became apparent that Corrin's strength outranked her on foot.

Lucina sympathized with turtles. She couldn't imagine how they survived if this was how it felt like to fight as one. On foot, her lance swings were slow and inaccurate. Corrin was practically dancing around her, nicking her armor and wearing her down. Sooner or later, Lucina thought, he would land the killing blow.

Eventually, after the fifth dive, Lucina had enough. Corrin landed just nearby, and much to his surprise, Lucina charged.

"You will not stop me!" Lucina cried out.

Much to Lucina's surprise, she felt something explode into existence beneath her. Lucina barely registered what had happened when her lance pegged Corrin and launched him through the air. Lucina slowed her horse down and stared down in surprise. Her horse was back.

A thought popped into Lucina's head. Slowing her horse, she quickly stepped off and turned. Horse gone. Breaking into a run, she felt the familiar weight of the horse reappear beneath her. She jumped up. Gone.

Corrin laid on his side and wheezed, legs dangling halfway off the edge of the stage. Corrin attempted to steady himself and stand using his sword. His...sword. Corrin reached for his hip.

"Oh no," Corrin muttered to himself as he stared across the stage.

Corrin's Yato was behind the horse. As Lucina charged, the horse kicked the sword away, and Corrin watched as it fell off the side. A tinge of panic roused through him but quickly dissipated. He'd get it back later, hopefully. The panic returned once he realized that the horse was halfway across the stage.

Corrin turned to run and only made it one step. There was literally nowhere left to run unless he wanted to fall off the edge. Corrin quickly weighed his options. No way, no how. No sword, no chance.

That is until the flash of green snapped him out of his doldrums. Corrin reached into his armor and pulled out a small stone. Time seemed to slow as he inspected the rock. Corrin stared into his own reflection, and a beast roared back at him. Corrin threw one sideways glance to the horse, which was practically snorting down the back of his neck.

"Now or never," Corrin sighed mentally as he clutched the stone.

A flash of light erupted from the floor. Through the blinding whiteness, Lucina heard her horse whinny as she was flung into the air like a doll. She managed to catch the audience's looks of surprise and amazement. With a quick look down, Lucina understood why. Both she and the horse were launched into the air. Rider and steed plummeted fast, falling over the edge of the stage.

 _"Come on…"_ Lucina thought as she urged her horse to jump.

Whether the steed was too panicked to jump or if the armor was too heavy, Lucina's horse didn't make a move and instead continued falling like a stone. Sitting up on the saddle, Lucina did the only thing she could think of doing and jumped. Against all laws of the universe, she and the horse pushed up into the air. The insignificant boost was barely enough to keep them from falling. Thinking fast, Lucina plunged the bronze lance into the side of the stage. The lance caught between a gear.

 _"Come on!"_ Lucina grunted and tried to pull herself up on the lance.

The lance lodged in the side of the stage was all that kept her from losing right then and there. The frail, already worn out weapon did not provide her much solace in that regard. The tip threatened with cracks, ready to fall apart at any second. Lucina was so determined on reaching the ledge just above the lance tip, that she almost didn't notice the horse disappearing again. She was glad the horse had lightened the load, yet a pang of guilt ran through her as she clutched her lance.

Lucina reached up for the ledge, then froze. Casually sitting atop the stage was the dragon. Corrin. He stared down at her, then dropped his tail off the side. Lucina's eyes widened. The tail, covered in spines, swung back and forth like a deadly pendulum, taunting her as it got closer. Lucina felt irritation broil through her veins.

Strangely, the annoyance wasn't focused on the dragon.

Lucina managed to steal her gaze away from the dragon and back to the stands. Staring at a familiar face in the crowd, she stared back at her aunt. Lissa was on the edge of her seat, leaning over the side of the coliseum's barrier in horror, holding on with one hand and pressing the other to her cheek. Lucina felt slightly annoyed, then felt bad. There was her aunt, who had come all this way to support her, and this was how she was going to prove herself to her?

Ignoring the fact her aunt had gotten her into this mess, Lucina focused instead on the renewed strength in her muscles. Lucina focused on the lance and lifted herself up. The bronze tip was already giving way. Lucina grunted as she swung back and forth. Corrin's tail did the same as it got closer.

Lucina slammed into the wall with her boots and kicked. Defying gravity yet again, she pushed off the wall and leaped up, retrieving the lance from the gear. The crowd gasped as Lucina sailed up past Corrin's tail and grabbed the ledge. Startled, Corrin hopped back.

Panting heavily, Lucina heaved herself onto the stage, aimed her lance, and thrust at the dragon.

 _Clunk._

The lance tip fell to the ground and shattered. The dragon stared at her with the rest of the lance stuck between one of its antler-like horns. Lucina and Corrin were at a standstill, each one gazing into each others' face. The audience was silent.

"Ha...ha…" Lucina gasped breathlessly.

Lucina then fruitlessly attempted to wrench the remnants of the lance out. The lance snapped in half, falling to the floor as two wooden sticks. The sweat down Lucina's face felt cold.

"You've...bested me," Lucina admitted shamefully.

The dragon didn't reply and stepped forward, arching its neck and pointing the horns at her. Lucina sucked in the air and braced herself.

Then she fell.

* * *

"So, Lucina…" Corrin cleared his throat, offering a hand to the sitting princess, "About that last match?"

"Yes?" Lucina answered plainly.

"I'd like to apologize," Corrin explained as he rubbed the back of his head, "I definitely underestimated you.."

"Had I been in your shoes, I'd have been taken aback as well," Lucina muttered, "There isn't anything to apologize for. It was a good match."

"Right, I just…" Corrin frowned and coughed, "Right. Good match."

The horse whinnied and licked Corrin's hand. Corrin made a small smile and tried to politely wipe his hand on his blue cape. The horse glared at Corrin, then licked his hand again. Already the spectators were leaving, filing around Corrin, Lucina, and her horse. A few odd stares were cast at the horse, which the horse reciprocated with a huff. The flood of people stretched from the halls right down to the doorway. Despite this, there was a large circle of space between the Lucina, Corrin, and the horse as the crowds shuffled past, out and into the building.

Corrin spoke up after a minute, "Where did you learn how to joust?"

Lucina paused. "My father's friend."

"It was impressive!" Corrin smiled, "There's only one other person I've seen who has skill with a horse like that."

 _"I can't imagine he must be too thrilled being compared to me,"_ Lucina imagined, "Thank you, Corrin. Your skill with the blade and your...other form is superb."

"Thanks," Corrin beamed.

Admittedly, while Lucina couldn't shake the feeling of embarrassment, it was beginning to wane. Chatting with Corrin was relieving if nothing else. Before she could say anything else, a booming voice was heard throughout the hall.

Corrin perked up. "Oh, that's for me. I should get going."

"Good luck," Lucina stated and offered a hand down to her competitor.

Corrin smiled and shook her hand. "Thank you, Lucina."

With that, a bright green light cloaked Corrin. He didn't stick around long after that. Startled pedestrians ducked for cover or simply ran as a dragon bounced down the halls. A few cursed and shook fists at Corrin from the safety of the floor, which Lucina just shook her head at.

Lucina stepped off her horse. Turning toward her steed, Lucina clasped the horse's snout in her hands gently and gave him a soft rub. The horse neighed and dashed away into the crowd, which instinctively shrank and dispersed. A few even covered their heads with their hands. All of a sudden, the clopping of hooves on expensive carpet stopped. When the crowd came to their senses, the horse had vanished yet again.

Lucina trotted along in her hefty armor in the crowd, making it out from the door outside. The sun was bright and hot, already heating up her armor. Lucina wiped the sweat from her forehead as she stood. Lucina wanted nothing more than to remove the armor, but for the sake of public decency, she decided that until she knew what she was wearing underneath she'd shed.

That and the armor didn't seem to come off.

"Lucina!"

Lucina whirled around, taking care not to fall flat on the floor with all her equipment still on. The crowd had begun to dissipate, and Lucina barely had time to react when a yellow blur smacked into her armor and held her close. Lucina shut her eyes when she realized who it was. She braced herself on what Lissa would do.

Lissa just beamed up at her niece and said, "You were amazing out there!"

Classic Lissa. "I was?"

"I didn't think that it still worked, but the seal actually- You were on a horse, and you were- You were just like Frederick!" Lissa fired comment after comment, each one exceedingly more gratuitous than the last.

Lucina continued sweating, yet in spite of the sun, she hardly felt the heat. "I'm glad I impressed you."

Lissa froze, then blushed a bit. "Ah, that reminds me…"

Lucina tilted her head in confusion. Lissa stopped, reached behind her, and pulled a white bouquet of flowers and offered the flowers up to Lucina, much to the swordswoman's surprise.

"Aunt Lissa!" Lucina exclaimed and took the bouquet into her hands.

Lissa smiled. "It was supposed to be for your win, but um…" Embarrassed, she glanced away for a second. Her heel twisted back and forth on the floor, "Sorry."

Lucina shook her head. "Don't be, Aunt Lissa. Had my training been more sufficient, things would have gone differently."

Lissa pouted. "Lucy, you were great out there! As your aunt, I demand that you enjoy the flowers and don't think about it."

"But-"

"Hup! Hey!" Lissa waggled a finger at her, "No!"

Lucina smiled, though this time it was not forced. "Thank you."

Lissa beamed proudly. Lucina's gaze shifted from her aunt down to the flowers. The collection of white flowers was certainly appealing. A pleasant, rose-like scent emanated from the bouquet. Taking Lissa's words in mind, she sniffed the flowers. The aroma was comforting, leaving Lucina as though a great weight had been lifted off her back.

Wait.

Lucina glanced down at her attire and froze. In place of her larger, metal knight armor was a bridal dress that extended down to the floor. Unfortunately for Lucina, the dress was still almost as suffocating as the armor. Lucina gawked at herself, then turned to Lissa, who barely wiped the impish grin on her face off.

"Aunt Lissa," Lucina stated with a frown.

"...Surprise?" Lissa shrugged.

"That seal wasn't dysfunctional either, was it?" Lucina asked while she closed her eyes, "You planned this."

Lissa stowed both her hands behind her back and whistled innocently. Lucina scowled at her and started to respond.

"Again, thanks for the assist."

"Hyah."

Then Link and Robin showed up.

Link's new sky-blue tunic was now spotted with debris. He carried a giant, burnt spoon in one hand and the remains of a pot lid in the other. Robin's cloak was considerably scorched, as were parts of his undershirt. In one hand, he had a tome which was still sparking with energy. In the other was a half-broken sword.

"Lucina, Lissa." Robin nodded politely as he and Link passed by, walking off

Lucina and Lissa exchanged glances.

"Do we even want to ask?" Lissa frowned.

* * *

AN: So this is how it feels to write fanfiction, take a break, and come back to the newest entry in the series being teased. Huh.

Thanks XShinkuKikinX and Guests for reviewing.

Thanks for reading, this is The Pizza-Loving Turtle, off for another 100 year sleep.


	19. Strokes of Brilliance

**Super Smash Bros.: The Glory of Custom Moves**

 **Strokes of Brilliance**

"I wanna bring an Inkbrush!"

"Nah, Rollers. Oh! Let's bring the Krak-On Roller!"

The Duck Hunt dog panted. Not because he was hot. Inkopolis was actually only slightly temperate. He was panting because he was a dog after all. The duck, on the other hand, was bored beyond his mind. Roosting atop the dog's head, the duck eyed the two squids arguing.

Two Inklings, a girl with orange tentacles barked back and forth between herself and the boy with blue tentacles. Duck thought they sounded like Dog.

The black asphalt and the gray concrete walls of the firing range were coated in unfinished splatters of orange and blue. Remnants of testing dummies laid on the floor, all of which were either in pieces or splattered with splotches. The only part of the testing range not covered in the color was the boxes and the weapons that Duck Hunt was sitting on.

Dog didn't mind being brought along. It was nice and warm in Inkopolis, and he was dog tired. To amuse himself, Duck flapped around in a circle.

The girl with orange tentacles for hair huffed and crossed her arms. "What is it with you and Inkbrushes?"

The boy with a mop of blue tentacles cocked his eyebrow. "What is it with you and rollers?"

The female made a rectangle with her fingers and pointed it towards him. "Okay, Brine, so picture this: 'Battle lasting for a while. Link and I are at high percents.'"

"Why Link? Oh, is it because of the Mario Kart thing that happened last year?" Brine inquired with a hint of sarcasm.

"He doesn't remember that!" she cried, "Probably."

"'High percents', Oceia," Brine reminded as he leaned on the concrete wall, "You were talking about high percents."

Oceia huffed. "I was getting to that. So, Link goes in for the kill. He thinks he's got me, he's got his sword out, and then WHAM! I whoop him with the roller! He'll never know what hit him!"

The dog barked in approval. The duck just yawned, which was pretty uncharacteristic of a duck.

The black mask that was Brine's eyes narrowed, unconvinced. "What's stopping him from just, I dunno, shooting you?"

Oceia pouted and waved him off. "Like you've got a better shot with a brush."

"I'd close the distance and smack him up a bunch," Brine told her.

"Unbelievable," Oceia rolled her eyes.

"It works when I do it!" Brine scowled.

"That's because the guys you play suck!" Oceia complained, "Link would never fall for that!"

"Ooh, how would you know! Who are you, 'Princess Zelda'?" Brine questioned and stepped toward her.

Dog snored. His tongue flapped in the air as he snoozed. On the contrary, Duck was invested. Whenever one of the Inklings began to squabble, Duck would squawk in approval. He didn't really care who won the argument but was invested nonetheless.

"Okay, you wanna use Rollers?" Brine tried to scream, only for his voice to crack at the end.

Oceia laughed in his face. "Yeah!"

Oceia was surprised when the brush smacked her across the face. On the way hurling towards the wall, that surprise was quickly replaced with searing anger. Shifting into an orange squid, she rocketed upwards with a burst of ink, carrying one large paint roller with her. Falling fast, Oceia pointed the roller at the ground where Brine was standing. Brine saw her coming, and judging by the blue streak across her face and the orange fire in her eyes, he really didn't want to stick around.

His mind kept repeating "retreat", but something within his little squid heart (or three) was telling him to stand his ground. So Brine did, and fired back with a flurry of brush flicks. His hearts turned out to be wrong, and he paid the price dearly as Oceia slammed into the floor, launching him towards the concrete wall of the range.

Duck squawked in surprise. Flapping his wings, he hovered just above Dog's head and snapped at his ear with his bill. Dog awoke with a loud yip and leaped from the box into the ink with a splash just before Brine fell on top of it. Duck cawed while Dog barked, each dodging bullets and columns of ink launched back and forth.

Brine had found a Splattershot and was already putting the squirt gun to good use. Volley after volley of ink was sent Oceia's way. Darting through the orange puddles on the ground, Oceia vaulted clear of the shots and swung her Roller. A pillar of orange smacked the wall behind where Brine was standing.

While the fight raged on, Dog and Duck found it increasingly more difficult to dodge the ink. Neither one of them were happy about the orange and blue stains on their fur and down, but each ink projectile socked them like a sucker punch. They scurried to the nearest dry spot to dry spot as more and more of the turf was covered.

Over time, the battle escalated to the point where nothing was drenched in ink. Duck Hunt had managed to hide in one of the puddles, though neither of them was too happy about sitting in ink.

Both of the Inklings' tentacles were lit up like a Christmas bulb. Ink bubbled off the top of their heads and shimmered vibrantly in spite of it being the middle of the day.

"I'm ending this now!" Oceia screamed from across the shooting range.

"Y'know what? I agree!" Brine shouted back. "Eat this!"

The Duck Hunt duo's eyes collectively widened in horror as Brine pulled out a large bazooka from nowhere. Across the stage, a missile appeared on Oceia's back along with a small, suspiciously-similar-to-a-Gamepad controller out and tapped the screen. The missile on her back jetted up into the air, lifting up with a cloud of orange smog just as Brine pulled the trigger. A thin, fast tornado spun out from the bazooka and sliced through Oceia, and with a final, angry scream, she exploded into a mess of blue ink.

"Ha! Inkbrush it is!" Brine shouted in triumph.

His victory ended prematurely as the missile exploded over him, drenching him in a hurricane of orange ink. When the storm passed, all that was left of Brine was a white shirt and a pair of shoes. Same for Oceia.

Duck Hunt, mouths wide open, gawked at the battlefield. Duck pecked the top of Dog's head and squabbled something rather quickly in duck-speak. Dog barked back in his trademark dog-speak, then the both of them turned back to the remains of the Inklings. Their clothes eventually sank into the ink and disappeared. The Duck Hunt Duo was speechless. Both stared at one another in silence for quite some time, then each nodded sadly.

"The Inklings are dead?" Master Hand's voice boomed, whether in outrage or disappointment was difficult to place, "Even before they could decide on their movesets?"

Dog barked earnestly while Duck nodded his head.

"They were arguing and it spurred into a fight sequence?" Master Hand asked, articulating his fingers.

Dog panted and replied with a "Woof". Duck followed with a "Quack".

"And on your way here, you saw Ness stuck inside a well?" Master Hand inquired, pressing his thumb up to an invisible chin in thought, "This is truly a predicament!"

Duck Hunt Duo laid on the chair they were sitting in and howled/quacked sadly in agreement. Master Hand's digits drooped.

"Well, it seems we'll have to delay the universe map tour. We'll have to contact the representatives at Nintendo. Not to mention getting you two a new marksman. Shame, too." Master Hand sighed, "We could've allowed them to use whatever weapons they wanted."

"Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?"

Master Hand and Duck Hunt were shocked. They turned to the door of the office space, and there they were. The two Inklings rushed up from behind Duck Hunt's chair and planted their hands on Master Hand's decorative desk, each one staring up at Master Hand with excitement in their eyes.

Master Hand shot a glance at Duck Hunt, who in turn just shrugged, then back at the kids. "You're alive."

"We respawned!" The Inklings cheered. Each squid was coated in sweat and gasping for breath as if they had run a mile. Or a few hundred.

"...I heard that right?" Master Hand muttered, scratching his palm with his index, to which the Inklings replied with a nod, "Still attempting to understand the Inkling language… Then I suppose you've figured out what weapons you're using?"

"Yep!" The Inklings nodded.

"We've got it all figured out, trust me," Oceia explained.

Brine nodded and beamed back up at Master Hand. "We compromised."

"Perfect," Master Hand announced as he snapped his fingers, procuring a sheet of paper from thin air, "Well, it appears as though you have everything in order. One last thing?"

"Anything!"

"Which one of you is going to be the default costume?" Master Hand inquired.

Both Inklings were motionless for about a second. Slowly, the two of turned and faced one another. Sparks shot out of their eyes as they stared. Suddenly, Master Hand and Duck Hunt appeared very uncomfortable. Duck Hunt practically flew out of the chair and Master Hand did his best to cover his desk as the two pulled out weapons.

"...And just like that, the studio was invaded by a Guardian," Robin explained, "Had it not been for Link, it would've been over."

Link, who had inexplicably begun feasting on a slab of meat, nodded back to him as he walked. Lucina and Lissa gave him a funny look, and Lucina tripped on her dress.

"Unf!" Lucina grunted, quickly standing on her feet, nonetheless flustered, "I don't see anyone can fight in- What?"

Lucina pressed her hand to her dress. Taking hold of the large gown, she shook it rapidly, out popping a sizable silver bow. Everyone shot her a funny look, much to her befuddled, embarrassed self. Doing her best to crouch down and retrieve the bow with her own dress in the way, she almost didn't even notice the orange and blue explosion rocket off in the background.


End file.
